


(un)heralded

by Densha



Category: Sword Art Online
Genre: F/F, F/M, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-02-14
Updated: 2018-02-14
Packaged: 2019-03-18 06:34:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 4
Words: 23,566
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13676244
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Densha/pseuds/Densha
Summary: To be unheard of, despite your incredible achievements, to have stayed in the background, whilst those in the forefront received the credit, this is the life of Satoru Narita, a high school student who managed to get his hands on Sword Art Online, the game that changed his life, as well as many others. Watch as these esoteric heroes, come together and change their futures, forever.





	1. Chapter 1

_**Prologue** _

 

**Chiba High School**

**11:00 AM**

 

**Satoru Narita**

* * *

 

"Achoo!"

The boy sniffled, pouting and wrinkling his nose, the remnants of his sneeze wilting away.

"Ugh, what the-"

"Yo, you alright?" the voice of a friend entered into his ringing ears. He sniffed again and rubbed his eyes.

"Yeah... Yeah." he said, clearing his sinuses and shaking off whatever in the world that was.

Turning around to address his buddy and the team of players before him, the boy's vision cleared. He was standing before another young man, 16-years of age with dyed blonde hair, faded into brown as it trimmed down while reaching the sides of his head. The guy eyed his friend with a questioning gaze. His auburn eyes ran over the brown-haired boy's figure once, then twice, before he frowned, crossing his arms over a yellow jersey, and bending a well-toned leg.

"You sure, Satoru?" He asked again, raising an eyebrow.

He wouldn't receive an answer right away, as the boy in question looked up to the sky.

It was a partly cloudy day today, just cool enough for him to bust out his long-sleeved compression shirt. The black fabric clung to his skin tightly underneath his mock jersey, the number 20 emblazoned in blocky black letters on the back of the yellow tee.

Satoru rung out his wrists and legs as he got his bearings.

Chiba high school's soccer field, the bleachers cleared, and the wind a mild tickle. He smirked and nodded, letting out a long breath as he walked passed Ichiru, raising his fist.

"Don't worry, man. I'm cool. Let's give this play another run before we let out."

Ichiru took a glance at the fist, before nodding, bumping his with his friend's.

"Alright," he said, before addressing the rest of the team, cupping his left hand along the left side of his mouth as he used his other to gesture towards the large group. The number 23 was lettered in the same pattern on his jersey.

"You heard 'im, reset! One more run!"

There followed a resounding yell of approval as the team of yellow jerseys got back to work. Saturdays or Sundays, the Chiba High soccer team took no days off. If they were going to win regionals, they couldn't afford to waste time. Not even today, the day before the greatest all of days. Oh yeah, they didn't forget.

Who could?

 

**12:30 PM**

**Sunday**

* * *

 

"See ya next week, Satoru!" a chorus of similar cries said. The boy waved with an easy smile at his departing teammates and slipped on his left shoe, checking the time. Half past twelve? He was gonna be late! Hopping around, the soccer captain managed to slide his sock over his left foot; then in it went into his sneakers.

Twelve thirty-one.

"Come on, where are you?"

Thankfully, a few minutes later, Ichiru came out the locker room. The boy was drying his blonde hair, with a wry grin plastered across his face, the one he usually wore after a good practice. He waved to his friend and tossed him the towel.

"Hair's still wet dude."

Satoru caught the cloth absentmindedly, beginning to dry his hair with a sigh. Once it dried, it resumed to be the curly mess of brown everyone recognized it to be. He whipped the cloth over his shoulder and slapped Ichiru's arm.

"Thanks, but come on man!" He said and jogged for the entrance of the school.

Ichiru raised an eyebrow before his eyes widened. "Oh, crap! Today's the day isn't it?!"

"Haha, duh! Let's go let's go!"

The two teammates soon sprinted out of school grounds and towards their homes within the city, making sure to abide by the laws in place for them to, you know, not get run over by an oncoming vehicle. Seriously, these drivers around here literally didn't care.

Unfortunately, they managed to get stopped at a traffic light on the way, having to wait until all the various forms of transportation passed by.

Satoru bounced on the tips of his toes, grinning like mad. He couldn't wait to get home. Like Ichiru said, Today was the day! The day gaming got a whole lot cooler, and way more immersive. Glancing out the corner of his eye, Satoru noticed Ichiru bouncing in a similar fashion.

He dissolved into laughter, clutching his stomach "Dude, what're you so hyped for?" he managed to ask, stopping his hopping.

Ichiru caught himself mid-jump, chuckling as he ceased his own bouncing.

"I dunno, man. Just can't wait for you to try it out! Can't believe your mom let you get it!"

"Yeah," Satoru shrugged with a content smile. "Considering me begging my spawn-of-Satan elder sister to tutor me all month, the corresponding upkeep with grades, and the fact that we won our last game? The woman couldn't say no!"

"Yes, she most definitely could've." Ichiru deadpanned.

Satoru deflated like an airless balloon. "Yeah... yeah she could've."

Ichiru laughed and slipped his hands into the pockets of his sweats. The two watched the vehicles come and go in silence for a few seconds, before he asked, "So where's Akane? Didn't see her on the field today."

Satoru shrugged; shoulder shifting his bag full of soccer gear to a more comfortable position. "I told you. She's home packing. Remember? She's going on that trip to Hokkaido tomorrow."

Ichiru whistled and raised his hands behind his head, looking to the sky. "Oh yeah. Man, that must be fun. At least it's way better than what Ryuji's been doing. The dude stayed home... again, as usual. He doesn't want to leave the place."

Satoru's shoulders bopped up and down once more, and he burrowed his hands into the pockets of his windbreaker. "What's new? He's been like that since the start of junior high," he sighed, watching the countdown of the pedestrian light at the other end of the street reach ten.

'Then again, who could blame him?'

Satoru lowered his head at the thought, his eyes traveling to the ground, then focusing on his sneakers. His brain slowly began to slip into the depths of subconsciousness, and he-for some apparent reason-began to reminisce about random parts of his life.

He acknowledged the blank spaces he never seemed to be able to fill, the events that shaped the person he was today, the family he had...

And the family he didn't.

Memories upon memories washed upon the shores of his psyche, and the mind-numbing zooming of the vehicles that passed seemed to unhinge recollections of things he thought were long forgotten.

...Things.

Things that... he thought were-

"Satoru!"

Jolted out of his thoughts, Satoru shook his head quickly. His eyes shot up to the light.

It had changed. They were able to cross.

"You really alright?" Ichiru asked. "You looked way too distant just now."

"Yeah yeah," He waved away the question. "I'm fine dude, just... trying to remember something." he said in partial truth, walking with him to the other end of the walkway.

"Mhm." Ichiru hummed, the disbelief evident in his voice.

As the two arrived at the other side, they bid each other farewell.

"Gotta drop off Ryuji's homework before heading home. Make sure you don't phase out and like, fall into a garbage can or something alright?"

"Oh shut up." Satoru rolled his eyes at the friend's light jab. Ichiru chuckled and waved goodbye heading right.

"Tell me how it was alright?! Like everything!" he called out.

Satoru nodded and waved. "I will tomorrow! Just focus on getting it yourself!"

"Yeah yeah!"

The boy sighed, letting an exasperated, yet content smile slip onto his features. As soon as Ichiru was out of sight, Satoru turned and started on his way home. Along the way, he found himself transitioning from a walk to a saunter, then to a jog, and finally cascading into an all-out sprint!

He didn't even know how anxious he really was until he finally appeared at his house, opening the small gate and getting the mail in one go. He closed the metal flap behind him and rushed into the house, quickly slipping his shoes off and tossing the bundle of mail on the table, screaming out to anyone in the house.

"I'm home!"

He then noticed his mom frowning at him from the kitchen at the end of the hall, her short brown hair adorning then sides of her face, and equally brown eyes

"Inside voice, Satoru." she said curtly.

Satoru clamped his hands over his mouth and nodded as he was greeted by the family's Japanese Akita puppy, Hokuto. The young canine barked, his curled tail wagging back and forth as his tongue hung out the left side of his mouth. The boy grinned.

"Hey boy." He mumbled, dropping to a crouch and scratching behind his ears, before looking back to his mother. "Sorry, mom. Where's Seya and Maiko?"

"Seya had a meeting with the student council, but she should be home any moment now. She shook her hands and reached for a towel. "Maiko's at Hana's house." She quickly glanced at one of the house's wall clocks.

"And I have to get back to the station soon."

"Right." Satoru sighed, heading towards the stairs, Hokuto in tow.

His mother was a detective for the Chiba Prefectural Police. She didn't really come home until eight or so, though she'd pass by the house once or twice before she actually came home to check on them.

She worked hard, that was indisputable, everyone knew it.

"Going to try it out now?" she asked, tying her hair up into a manageable bun, a knowing smirk aimed at her son. Satoru was already halfway up the steps. Wow, way too predictable. Either that or she was just really good at being his mother.

"Yeah, the servers finally open today and it's twelve fifty-three. I want to get on. Don't worry, I'll do my homework right after I test it out. Promise."

His mom looked at him for a few moments, her brown eyes staring at him intently. The boy stared back, squinting his eyes for even more dramatic flair. He was dead set on winning this battle of silence.

After a few seconds, she finally caved. "Fine, I trust you Satoru. Just make sure your homework is done by the time I get back. Alright?"

He blinked twice, lips parting in subtle awe.

Did he just win... a staring contest... with his mom? It was a miracle... The goddess of luck and good fortune shined upon his feeble head. Satoru nodded eagerly, mouth splitting into a bright grin as he shot up the remaining steps and into his room.

"I will!"

Hokuto barked as if thanking her as well before bounding up the steps after him.

"Oh yeah, there's some food in the fridge! Curry and Omurice! Don't touch Seya's or Maiko's! You know how they get! I'm leaving!"

"Right! Got it! Thanks!" He called downstairs, not really listening to most of what she'd said. He let Hokuto saunter in before shutting the door behind him. Satoru had kicked off his shoes at the door thankfully, if he'd forgotten that, his head would've been on a platter for his sisters instead.

Throwing his bag on the floor, the soccer player unzipped his jacket and proceeded to change into something more comfortable. Hokuto had gotten comfortable in the doggy bed by the edge his owner's. He watched the boy with energetic eyes, as Satoru put on a gray shirt and black basketball shorts.

Satoru sighed, running a hand through his curled locks. He inhaled a long breath, looking at the clock as the time changed.

"Twelve, fifty-seven." he breathed out. He couldn't stop himself from shaking, this was it.

This was the day he'd been waiting for.

Satoru's eyes landed on the dark gray, Cerebro-esque helmet that rested atop his bed, laying next to it, a cartridge for the first, real game, ever created for such a console.

The words, imprinted upon the top shouted up at him silently.

**SWORD ART ONLINE**

He smirked.

* * *

 

( **Disclaimer:** Sword Art Online (Novel) is owned by Reki Kawahara, abec, ASCII Media Works and Yen Press. We own only our characters and concepts.)


	2. A Pair and a Plot Twist

**Satoru (Saito) Narita**

* * *

Streams of different colors encompassed my view as I seemed to fly into the world of Sword Art Online. Red, green, violet, yellow, blue, they all seemed to go by in a flash. It was like I was entering a portal into a new world. Which, I technically was... but considering it was my first dive ever, I was pretty psyched.

As the rainbow of cylindrical pillars passed by, what lay before and around me was a… Blank... Space..?

Simple nothingness surrounded me.

Now that I think about it, it didn't even feel like I had a body to move around in at all. Like a… a floating head. Hey! Just like that fat-headed super villain dude who hovers around on a rocket chair! Forgot his name though…

MODOK! That was it.

Okay, well. There wasn't  _anything_  per say; a few streams of data passed by and went their way, minding their own business.

' _Well, what n-'_

My thoughts were cut off by a small holographic screen popping up. On it read:

" _ **Welcome to Sword Art Online."**_

" _ **At this time you will create your avatar. An avatar is the character that will portray your real life self in the world of [Aincrad]. Please make sure that you choose his/her appearance appropriately. Once you choose, it will be a while before you have the option of change or alteration."**_

" _ **Are you ready to begin?"**_

_**(Yes) or (No)** _

Raising an eyebrow… or at least I think I did—it felt like it; I mentally decided "Yes" and the process began.

The first thing I was asked involved my In-game ID, the name I'd be identified by within the game.

To be honest... I had no idea what to name myself.

So I simply cut off the "ru" from my first name and added an I in between the "Sa" and "to".

Saito.

It was simple, to the point, and easy to remember. I liked it.

A request of confirmation popped up. I selected my choice, and the next step appeared with the disembodied voice using my new Game ID in its echo-like speech. It was kind of cool actually, being all personal and everything. It was like the game truly cared.

Next, was my gender Male or Female?

At this point, a mirror had slowly flashed into existence in front of me, showing a person that looked exactly how I did in real life.

It was probably the calibration thingy they had me do before putting on the NerveGear... You know, the patting of the head, shoulders, knees… Toes. Eyes, and ears and mouth and nose!

Ahem.

Okay... Let me stop.  _Anyways_. When I moved, my avatar did as well. Looking down, I noticed I had limbs now and I could feel around the empty space…

Man, virtual reality rocks…!

But back to the gender option… My avatar was currently a male. Well... of course it was, but I just wanted to lay the info down there.

But that nefarious female option seemed to flare my mind into producing question after guilty, but intriguing question.

' _So would I have… You know… Those…? Like…'_

I felt around my chest area, gulping.

' _Those…? I mean… No one is here, right…? No one can really judge me if I tried it… Right?'_

Oh man. Not just those, but… Down there… It would… Wouldn't it feel…

I couldn't believe my thought process right now. If I could step out of my body and knee myself in the yoohoos to remind me of what gender I actually was, I would so do it…

But oh believe me… I was tempted… Very much so. The female button was right there in front of me… Tauntingly pulsing in my direction… What should I do? How should I move on? What do I do!?

….

**Click**

I chose "Male" and moved on…

' _What if…?'_

That would be one question I would always keep in the back of my mind… But my answer would never be given…

Ugh… Bleh… Rghh… Blech!

Shaking my body to get rid of the disgust I had for myself, I refocused on continuing with the creation of my character.

Next they asked me for:

  * Skin tones – My normal tone
  * Hair Style – Short/Shaggy
  * Hair Color – Brown
  * Eye Shape – Normal
  * Eye Color – Brown
  * Top Piece – Grey Short Sleeve Shirt
  * Bottom Piece – Beginners Pants
  * Footwear – Beginners Boots



I wasn't putting anything outlandish, considering probably everyone else would be scrambling at the seams to look like the hottest thing to ever walk on planet Earth. That was what people usually did in games like these. They did worse things too. Males chose to be girl players in-game just to get more stuff from the actual guy gamers and so on and so forth. It was sick and twisted, but sadly... it worked.

Hats off to the sickos who started that. You guys rock.

I, myself, stayed as close to my real self as possible. I wasn't playing the game for anyone but myself and my enjoyment. Nothing more, nothing less.

Anyways, after a few more tweaks and other things, I was finally done with my character. I didn't look much different than my real life self. My skin was a bit fairer but that was it really. My hair was as colored as close as I could manage to the real world, and I even styled it similarly.

Finally, after examining myself for a few moments, I clicked done, reaching the end of the Character Creation process.

Another request of confirmation was due, and I agreed to the new look. The body mirror disappeared as I was greeted by one more message.

" **Congratulations on Creating Your Character, and Welcome!"**

" **Welcome to the Expansive World of Aincrad!"**

And like that, I felt a slight tingling sensation. A radiant white light engulfed my body. It was so bright that I had to shut my eyes to keep from going blind. Which, normally would've been an exaggeration, but in this case, I wasn't kidding.

After the light faded, I was subconsciously whisked away into the World of Swords.

 

**November 6, 2022**

**Floor 1**

**Town of Beginnings/Starting City**

 

The whiteness deposited me into the heart of the city. As the flash faded away, I was able to open my eyes, blinking up to see sunlight. Instantly, I brought up my hand to shade my eyes. I squinted to I look at the new world.

"Whoa…" I breathed, taking in the scenery.

Around me were thousands of players, walking, talking, entering and leaving shops... And the buildings! They were so lifelike!

Taking a step, I felt the realness of the pavement against my boot-clad right foot. Almost laughing a bit too loudly, I headed over to the wall of a random building to touch it with my own two hands.

Yup, it definitely felt real.

"Props to Kayaba… And the whole Argus team… Wow…" I mumbled aimlessly, feeling around the wall long enough until I realized I was probably being a bit weird.

Suddenly clearing my throat and backing away, I took a quick glance around to make sure no one had seen that.

Satisfied, I closed my eyes with a content smile on my face. I turned, attempting to head deeper into the city to explore.

That was when I heard her.

"Having fun aren't ya?"

… Uh-oh. No, no I wasn't having fun. Nuh-uh. Nope. Not at all.

I froze where I was; a female voice had called out from behind me.

' _Don't look! Don't look Satoru! Don't you look!'_ I mentally berated myself, adding in emphasis on the 'do not look' part. But try as I may, curiosity took over.

Thus… I looked.

Turning my body with a smile of embarrassment on my face, I tried to play it off.

"Aha!  _Well_ ,  _you see_ , I was just wondering if everything here was actually real and I looked over and was like 'Ooh look a wall lemme tou-…"

My words were lost and my rambling had ceased as my eyes had locked onto the owner of the previous voice. Seemingly trying to keep up with my explanation, the girl standing a few yards away smiled in a confused and somewhat intrigued manner.

She had bright, wavy, carmine red hair flowing down to her mid-back. Her eyes, underneath red eyebrows, were a playful and energetic crimson color. They looked into mine, as if searching vigorously for something. I really hope that something was not the innate craziness I just showed. That would be embarrassing.

She wore a black long-sleeved shirt under a brown vest that seemed to fit to her figure quite well. She had nice... uhm… assets… atop and…  _over yonder_!

… Ehehe… Heh… Eh…

She had on what looked like jeans and brown boots just like mine.

A single, but thick, strap slipped around her waist. On it hung a black sheath, the hilt of a sword extending from her back. The pommel was rounded, and I made out a dull sparkle, maybe from a jewel.

It was probably because I had the dumbest look on my face at the time, but the girl sputtered out into quiet laughter, covering her mouth with her hand before crossing her arms with an amused smile.

"Go on, I'm listening." She urged on, taking a step back on her right foot as she raised her head, her smile widening minutely.

… Yeah… I had nothing but the tinge of red lining my cheeks.

' _She just had to be cute didn't she…?'_

"U-Uhm… Ah… Mmm…"

What could I say after embarrassing myself twice in front of this girl!? Come on Saito! Think! Use that big brain of yours!

"Uh, Eheheh… Hi…" I said awkwardly, rubbing the back of my head as I mentally beat myself like a punching bag.

' _Idiot! Idiot! Idiot!'_

However, when I looked up, the girl seemed to accept it. Her smile became more… genuine.

She nodded, lowering her hands as one rested against her hip.

"Hey." She said just as simply, walking over to close the proximity between us. When she was close enough the girl stuck out her hand, blowing some of the red locks out of her eyes. "I'm Ren." Her grin came back full force as she let her teeth shine. She had really good teeth…

What the hell is wrong with me...?

Taking her hand in my own, I shook it softly, noting her firm yet gentle grip. My smile seemed to become a bit less idiotic as I tried to cool myself off. Again, emphasis on 'a bit.'

"I-I'm Saito. Nice to meet you."

Ren smirked as we released hands. "You too, this is your first dive I'm guessing?" She asked, tilting her head to the right.

I nodded with a sigh. " _Yup_ … Everything's so-"

"Different?"

"Yeah, yet they're the same too. It's weird." I said, looking around with a small smile as I stuffed my hands into my pockets.

Ren giggled, nodding as she looked around as well. "Yeah, I get what you mean. Virtual Reality does that to newcomers. It's scary or weird at first, but soon enough you get used to it, and start to enjoy it."

"You sound like you've done this before." I said, smirking quizzically over to her.

She'd turn giving me a roll of the eyes. "Well I  _was_  a beta tester so..."

"Oh… Right!" I laughed and ran my right hand through my hair. "Makes sense," I added, shaking my head at my subconscious ignorance.

Ren only laughed along, nodding her head.

" _Yup_." She said before taking a step back, crossing her arms once more as she gave me two or three once-overs.

I eyed her weirdly before looking around myself and at my body in general.

"What?" I asked, eyeing back up to her.

Her eyes flashed wide for a few moments. "Oh!" She said, plopping her right fist down in the palm of her left hand.

"That's it."

_'Yeah? What's it?'_ I was confused.

"What is..?"

She shook her head. Placing one of her hands on her hips, she pointed to me with a finger. " _You_  don't have a weapon."

… Oh yeah… OH CRAP, YEAH!

She was right! I'd totally forgotten about that. What with all that's happened in the last five or so minutes.

Chuckling, I nodded. "Yeah you're right, know where I could find one… Ren…?" I asked, trying out the name.

It was simple, to the point,  _and_   _easy to remember_.

A simple smile would cross my features as Ren nodded, waving lazily for me to follow along as she started off down the street.

"Yeah, come on. Have to meet my brother there anyways."

I'd tag along right beside her, noticing we were about the same height, though she was a bit shorter than I was, like about a few centimeters or so.

"Brother?" I asked, looking over to her with a quizzical raise of my eyebrow.

She nodded, raising her hands behind her head as she clasped them together, walking along the pebbled path.

"Yup, my little brother. He's probably still over there choosing what kit he wants."

' _Kit? All these terms…'_

I mentally sighed, though I'd let her lead. She was a beta tester anyways so she knew this world much better than I did.

Though I was anxious to see what these kits were. Though what came to mind always had something to do with a totally different subject than what I anticipated Ren was talking about.

So I kept the stupid remarks to myself and simply nodded along, following beside the girl as we headed to the "Kit Station", or, as I wanted them to be: the "Kit Kat Station."

… Weird, I swear that should've made me hungry…

Hmm.

 

**Reiha (Ren) Takagi**

* * *

This new guy was interesting. He was definitely more down to Earth than the other players around here. Most of them either looked like supermodels or nobles, which would be fine if that's how they looked like in real life… Heck. Their appearance alone would've been fine with me! It's just the goddamn attitudes that come with the looks that really piss me off…

Just over-attractive guy after over-attractive guy, high maintenance girls with "absolutely stunning" looks, and a  _plethora_  of snobby attitudes…

But then, here comes this boy... probably not much older than me, normal as can be.

Weird too…

I mean who spends that much time feeling around a wall…? (Insert subtle eye roll)

However, what really made him stand out from the rest of these guys was that, in the five minutes that I'd known him, he was himself. He was so out-of-the-element in a game like this, a game where you could change everything about yourself, just so people could feel attracted to you. A game where you could get anything and everything you wanted simply from how you look. It was true. I've seen it happen before… It's stupid… But it's true.

Saito, however, just stuck out like a sore thumb. He seemed to be really curious with the workings of the game, asking me questions along the way as we headed to where people acquired their "Beginner's Kit". Most of them I simply nodded or shook my head to since they were "Yes" or "No" questions, but I mostly kept quiet.

It was sunny in the Town of Beginnings. The air was fresh. Well... as fresh as it'll ever be in Virtual Reality, and at some point, Saito had stopped with the downpour of questions, leaving a surprisingly comfortable silence between us.

This gave me just enough time to glance over at him and actually take in how he looked like.

For one, his hair was a bit messy, though it looked clean too. Like a neat bedhead. It was short, brown in color, tousled down to his ears. His eyes gleamed a shade lighter brown than his hair. They bounced around from building to building as the player smiled silently. His almost lazy smile couldn't help but affect me in some way, and I found myself smiling as well. Until he caught my analyzing gaze and raised an eyebrow.

"Ah… Ren?" He asked in a rhetorical fashion.

I blinked furiously, shaking my head as I coughed into my right hand. I straightened myself while I tried to cool the light tinge of pink from my cheeks.

' _Come on Ren. Pull yourself together.'_

"Nothing. Nothing." I managed out, looking away for a few moments before my eyes landed on a familiar sight.

"Oh, we're here. That was fast."

The last part was mumbled inaudibly as I tapped Saito's arm, walking ahead while slipping my hands into my pockets.

"Come on, let's get you a weapon Mr. Walls-Deserve-A-Hug-Too." I said, hearing a huff of surprise, then playful annoyance as he followed along. That simply made me smile again.

"Oh whatever…" He sighed.

I could feel him roll his eyes as he tagged along beside me once again.

This was it. The "Kit Station" I guess you could say.

We'd arrived at a large cul-de-sac-like area slightly Midwest of the center of the city. It was a circular, wide open parlor-like place with a ring of small and elegant buildings.

Wandering around the streets were NPC (Non-Player Character) maids that roamed around in search of players who had no weaponry.

These girls could tell whether or not you had a weapon... Though not like others could. They could peer into your inventory and check.

If you didn't have any they would quickly rush up to you like a telemarketer and begin to sell the different kits to you. As long as you were in the cul-de-sac they would hound you and hound you until you finally acquired a weapon. It was  _really_ annoying. At one point I wanted to sock one of the maids in the face. But I guess this was Akihiko Kayaba's way of saying that you'd be much safer out there with a weapon amongst other things.

Then again, he really didn't have to be so irritating about it…

Anyways, Saito was about to experience what every player had at the beginning of the game.

We'd only taken a good few steps inside the square before an intriguing glint flashed out from the corner of my eye.

I let out a sigh, looking over to Saito with an apologetic and amused smile.

He raised an eyebrow, tilting his head at me, only to hear my words of encouragement as I stepped out of the way.

"Good luck!"

He'd learn too late, suddenly being bombarded by the hyperactive, persistent maids.

"Gah! Ren! What the hell?!"

I couldn't help but dissolve into laughter, seeing his flustered face as he tried to answer all the maids at once.

I waved in his direction as I started away from the square. "I'll go look for my brother! We can meet up again when you're done getting your weapon!"

"W-Wait!" Saito yelled back at me before turning to the needy Maids, "Ah yes yes, please wait a minute..! Ren!"

"Jaa!"

I snickered, sauntering away giddily. I relaxed my features into a sly smirk, starting off to search for my brother.

 

**Satoru (Saito) Narita**

* * *

Geez! These maids took the words "Never give up" to a whole new level. They were like large intimidating bees that wanted to sting you and sap out all your honey!

I like my honey! Give me back my honey!

Ahem.

"Whoa, whoa! Okay, okay! I'll come with you guys! Just slow down! One at a time! Or… just really one at all…" I said, trying to calm down the energetic swarm of maid NPCs.

Hearing this, they all nodded as they spat out various programmed sentences. They then waved at me before heading over to find their next target…

God bless their soul… Er, programming..? Whatever.

However, one of them stayed. A girl with brown hair tied into neat pigtails. She had twinkling green eyes and a bright smile. Taking my arm, she said:

" **Come, let's get you a weapon!"**

"R-Right…" I sighed, being dragged along to one of the buildings within the ring lining the square.

There wasn't much of a line in front of the buildings. My guess was because of the four maids at the front of each building helping out multiple people at a time, and the other NPCs that rushed out like maniacs and looked for players themselves, any wait time was severely decreased. The process seemed quick and effective. Again, props to Argus. They really knew how to be nifty with small details like this.

It didn't take long before it was my turn. The maid clinging to my arm for the past 5 minutes finally let go and sent me a big smile before she took off again. I turned to watch her jog off back to do her directive, a small confused smile slipping onto my face.

I couldn't help it. She looked eager as ever to do her job, and though she was a program, it seemed to rub off on me just a little bit.

I took a sharp intake of breath before exhaling and turning around with a determined smile, only to bump into someone in front of me.

As my body collided with the person, I took a step back, shaking my head to clear my vision as I muttered out apologies.

"Sorry, sorry."

As I blinked over, I noticed a white-haired boy glaring back at me with red irises.

"Hey, watch it dude…" He said bluntly, before shoving past me with an irritable huff and heading on his way.

Now I would've been a bit ticked off by the guy if I hadn't been so intrigued by his choice of weapon.

In his hand was a long 6-foot metal pole, curving out from the edge was a 5-foot long blade, hanging over his shoulder like a death threat in and of itself.

It took me a few moments, but I'd blinked myself back to reality. Turning, I noticed that I'd basically missed the beginning part of the speech the NPC woman was giving.

I'd come to my senses around the:

" **You will embark on grand journeys, fight powerful monsters, and meet new friends! You have warped into Floor One, Town of Beginnings!"**

"Whoa, uh, yeah." I agreed duly, trying to get what was going on again.

Oh yeah, my weapon.

The maid smiled almost understandingly at me, opening a menu from her side, before a lengthy holographic screen appeared on the table, showing different cube-like shapes.

Those cube-like shapes turned out to be boxes… kits.

' _Ahh, now I get it,'_ I thought, putting on another smile of my own as I listened to the explanation the woman before me gave.

" **To start off your adventures, please select one of the following starter kits. Beware, magic is not available in the game."**

I began to scroll through the kits. There were tons of these things. Like a plethora upon a plethora of these.

There was the Miner Kit, Grandmaster Kit (kung fu, anyone?), the Chef Kit, the Noble Beast Kit (don't know what the crap that is), the Hunter Kit, the Trapper Kit, the Royal Guard Kit (medieval maybe?), the Freelancer Kit, the—wait a minute. Hold on.

' _Freelancer Kit…?'_

I thought to myself, right eyebrow raised, and pressed on the kit to see its properties.

Okay, so it came with the  **One-handed Curved Sword**  skill, the **Sprint**  skill, and the  **Acrobatics**  skill.

Skills, hm..?

The kit had other thingamajigs too, but those were the things that were available to me for now, and I liked my options.

I wasn't really fond of being tied down by things like ideals, and how people should do this and that. I followed a few simple rules and that was it. The rest was in the air for me. I found my own way, and this kit seemed to speak wonders of that same recognition.

I didn't hesitate to choose the kit, pressing "Yes" twice.

Almost instantly, a sheath appeared around my waist, strapped by a thick, light brown double belt. The handle of a basic curved sword lay atop the slim scabbard, the butt of the blade glinting under the sunlight above.

"Heh... Nice." I laughed, reaching for the handle before pulling the blade from its sheath. The metal slithered against the inner surroundings of its holdings before it revealed itself. The blade was clean, about 3 feet or so in length, and it was balanced between light and heavy.

Just right.

It was a simple sword. There was nothing spectacular about it in the least. But for some reason, having it in my hand made me feel just a smudge more powerful… I don't know.

It was like a surge of energy!

I tried a few practice swings while making sure not to get in anyone's way.

Yup. This was definitely cool.

I had also acquired three new skills to my skill slot list.

**One-handed Curved Sword** ,  **Sprint** , and  **Acrobatics** , had appeared.

Along with those I received these:

**Drifter's Hooded Jacket**  x 1 (It added a 5% boost to my movement speed stats)

Leather Vest x 1  
Health Potions x 5  
Teleport Crystals x 3

The Drifter's Jacket was a pretty cool item. It was a simple waist-length, forest green, hooded zip-up jacket. I equipped it over my gear, feeling it materialize around my arms and shoulders before falling fittingly at my sides.

I couldn't help but grin. This felt too cool!

Rolling my arms a few times to get the feel of the jacket, I heard the sound of approaching footsteps. I also heard the familiar voice of the one who abandoned me.

Ren.

"Wow, lookin' good." She said blatantly.

I turned just in time to see her grin brightly at me.

You see... I was going to pout, but… I don't know. Something… Something about her smile seemed to… Melt away those other feelings. The most I could do was stare blankly at her before blinking back to the present and shaking my head. I just then realized there was someone standing next to her.

"Oh, uhm... I'm guessing this is you-"

"Younger brother, yes." The boy said, grinning at me. He was the spitting image of his sister, just shorter by like a foot or so.

His eyes were the same color red as Ren's. However, instead of red hair, his was black, short, ruffled neatly and seemed to fall to the right of his face a bit. He seemed to be twelve. Thirteen at most. He didn't look older than fourteen.

I nodded with a comfortable smile, and slid my curved sword back into its sheath. Then I shoved my hands into my pockets.

I gave him a nod. "Nice to meet you… Uhm..."

"Uhuh." The boy smirked deviously, nodding over to me. "You first, mister."

Oh, so either Ren was rubbing off on him or it was the other way around. These two acted  _way_  too alike. He was like a male version of her! Or she was a female version of him!

Deciding not to delve into trivialities such as the likeness of these two, I laughed lightly.

"Alright then," I started, nodding yet again, "My name's Saito. Nice to meet you."

He did the same, showing a toothy smile in return as he put his hands on his hips. "I'm Tokage, nice to meet you too!"

"I'm still not calling you that, Tohru…" Ren rolled her eyes, puffing out the words lazily as she looked in another direction.

Tokage, or Tohru... Which seemed to be his real name, elbowed her sister in the side.

"Ow!" She pouted over to him, only for the boy to reprimand her.

"Sis! Geez, he's not supposed to know our real names, ya know!"

He seemed really flustered. His face got all beet red and stuff, which I had to hold in laughter at.

He reminded me of Maiko just a bit.

I only shook my head, putting on a knowing smile as I shrugged. "What name?" I asked, looking around, before leaning forward with a wink.

"I heard Tokage. That's your name, right?"

The question intrigued the boy as he looked back over to me, before smiling and leaning forward as well. His smile diminished to a smirk.

"Yup! Tokage! Nothing else!" He chirped.

"Alright then. Tokage it is! Nice to meet you, man!" I said.

The two of us shared a mischievous grin.

I looked up just in time to see Ren smiling softly at the two of us before catching my eyes. Her cheeks flared up a bright pink color as she rolled her eyes, rubbing them "Oh-So-Casually" as she turned and ruffled her younger brother's hair.

"Come on, let's go teach this idiot how to use his weapons." She huffed while Tokage hurried over beside her.

I took the other side of him, rolling my own eyes at the way she spat out the word, "idiot."

I smirked at how cute it was.

"But sis, I just got my weapons too." Tokage said innocently, blinking up to his sister as she groaned, knocking him upside the head comically.

"You know what I meant! Come on…"

"Owww! What was that for?"

"When you elbowed me in the side!"

"Oh come on, that was like five minutes ago!"

"Then you should get over this pretty quick too!"

The two of them bickered on and on as I had a fit of laughter.

Wiping away a few tears, I sighed contently as the three of us headed throughout the city and towards the outskirts of the city.

 

**15 Minutes Later**

**Floor 1**

**East Field**

 

"So…" I said, drawing my blade with my right hand and letting it drop to my side. "You're gonna teach us how to fight?" I asked, tilting my head to Ren.

The girl slid her weapon from its sheath before twirling it around in between her fingers almost effortlessly.

"Oh no, you guys know how to fight. Well... At least he does." She said, nodding over to her younger brother before transitioning to shaking her head left and right.

"No, no. I'll be teaching you guys how to use  _skills_. System skills."

Tapping the edge of her blade lightly against the leather shoulder strap of her chest covering, Ren nodded her head in the direction of a wandering boar in the distance.

It was a dark indigo in color. Its eyes were an unworldly red as it went through the fields aimlessly with nothing on its mind.

It looked peaceful.

"But first, a quick lesson on mobs." Ren said, pointing the tip of her sword at the boar. "You guys see the floating cursor above that boar?"

The question brought my eyes up to where she mentioned. Indeed noticing the pure red diamond-like shape hovering above the monster's head.

Ren headed over slowly as she spoke, casually wading through the knee-high grass.

"You have to get its attention first... Or at least walk within its general range of attack." She said.

She'd then stop, as if she was in range. Then she- let out a high and sharp whistle.

At the sound the boar's stubbly ears would twitch as it raised its head, snapping it in the direction of the noise.

Its eyes then flashed brightly as it let out a monstrous "Oink!" before rushing at Ren with gaining momentum.

"Then…" She spoke once more before doing something.

Tokage and I watched as Ren slid into a certain stance, placing her blade by her right leg. The weapon then burst into a bright blue glow as she pushed off and dashed straight for the oncoming creature.

At the last moment before they clashed, Ren swung her sword upwards with a harsh grunt, aiming right for the boar's jaw.

A blue glare of light erupted from the point of impact as the poor boar went airborne and the green health bar by its head lowering to red.

Ren finished off the boar with another uppercut strike of her sword while it was still in the air.

The thing didn't even have time to hit the ground before it exploded. Shining digital shards rose through the air slowly before dissipating shortly after.

Ren took a breath before turning back to us.

"You kill it like so." She said with a childish smile.

…

The two of us eyed each other before looking back at her.

"Wow."

"Geez, sis…"

Her smile turned into a light laugh as she waved us over saying, "Come on lemme teach you two how to do stuff like that."

Needless to say, we both eagerly headed over as our training began.

 

**20 Minutes Later**

_Slam!_

_Shiing!_

Tokage had crushed the snout of a boar with his gauntlets and I cut another one down with my blade.

Our weapons cooled down from their glows of orange and green as we looked in happy surprise at our new capabilities.

So it basically worked like this. To use a certain skill for the weapon you were wielding you first had to get into a certain stance, which would activate the short "Post-Motion Delay" where the skill charges briefly.

Then, the system basically does the rest of the work for you and executes the skill as you liked.

It was really nifty and could help me a lot in the future. Plus it looked really cool.  _Hue_   _hue_.

After another thirty minutes we stopped. I looked at the time.

"Ah crap, it's pretty late." I sighed, sliding my sword back in its sheath as I looked over to Ren and Tokage. I saw them check the time as well.

They seemed to agree with me, nodding their heads as Ren spoke.

"Yeah, it's sorta his bedtime anyway."

An elbow came her way once again.

"I don't have a bedtime!"

"Atatata!" The girl sucked her teeth, rubbing her side and pouting at her brother.

I chuckled lightly as I saw her roll her eyes at the both of us. I smiled still, sighing once again and rubbing the back of my head as I then bowed slightly to the two of them.

"Thanks for helping me up to this point. Without you guys I'd probably be totally lost in this game." I said, raising my head once more with a grateful expression directed towards them two.

Ren, for some reason, seemed surprised at what I'd done…

Was it the bow? The face…? Could be my face… Though what was on my face?

She seemed to turn a light pink as she kicked at the grass, averting her eyes.

"Right... Uhm... Anytime... I guess." She mumbled, fisting her hands into her pockets.

Tokage simply grinned and nodded, giving me two thumbs up. "No problem, dude!" He said, assuring me happily.

I grinned back just as happily. "Alright, see you guys later... And thanks again!" I said, going to open my menu before I was stopped.

"Hey!"

Ren shot out the word, her voice cutting through my train of thought as I looked up again.

I raised an eyebrow. "Yeah?" I asked, noticing her menu was also open.

A moment later a holographic screen popped up in my line of vision.

**Would You Like To Be Friends With: [Ren]**

**(Yes) or (No)**

I looked up to Ren, seeing her flustered posture and constant aversion of my gaze.

"You don't have to if you don't want to, you know. Just... If you want to meet up with us again, then-"

I smiled, not letting her finished as I clicked the " **(Yes)** " option.

The menu then closed, adding my first VRMMO friend onto the list.

I met the slow transition of her eyes back on to mine before she let out a half-smirk.

I rolled my eyes and smiled, nodding. "I'll see you later Ren. Tokage." I said, searching for the logout button.

They waved, the little brother a bit more energetically than his sibling.

… Okay…

"Where is it…?" I mumbled, scrolling through the Settings menu... Up and down, up and down.

The button wasn't there… This was weird…

Ren would raise an eyebrow, heading over. "What's up?"

"The logout button," I started, heading back out of Settings to refresh it before clicking the little gear button again and continuing to look.

Nothing…

' _What the…?'_

I looked up to the two, concern gradually slipping onto my features.

"The logout button… It isn't here…"

* * *

( **Disclaimer:**  Sword Art Online (Novel) is owned by Reki Kawahara, abec, ASCII Media Works and Yen Press. We own only our characters and concepts.)


	3. Bullies and Beliefs

( **Disclaimer:** Sword Art Online (Novel) is owned by Reki Kawahara, abec, ASCII Media Works and Yen Press. I own only my characters and concepts.)

** November 6, 2022 **

** 5:53 **

** City Square **

**Tohru (Tokage) Takagi**

* * *

 

"Sis!? Saito? Onee-chan! Where are you guys!?"

Man this place was huge. I mean, I was just with them, and now I'm all the way at the... northwest edge of this plaza? This was the plaza right?

It seemed to be in the middle of the city. There were dozen streets that branched from this place and further out, so I think I'm right.

Anyways, where were they?!

This place was getting way too crowded. I'm not a tall kid, so looking over heads wasn't an option. I also didn't want to head deeper inside the mob. I'd get lost easily and then my chances of finding them would be slimmer.

So I just decided to stay as close to the edge as I could, you know, without  _falling off._  At one point I almost did, but I managed to shove my way past a few people and stay safely away from there...

Geez, Mr. Kayaba had enough money to create this immersive world but conveniently forgot about putting proper railings around the arena? You had one job dude. One.

I could hear the deep rumbling of the phantom words as it hovered above the crowd, but there were too many tall people. Everything came out in booming, yet muffled, sounds.

Whatever he was saying seemed to pass right over my head and into the ears of others, literally. I guess that was good though, I was too busy trying to find Saito and Rei- I mean Ren, my sister.

...Ahem.

Shuffling passed a few more busy bodies, I found myself scooting towards what looked like one of the entrances towards the city.

Smirking I quickened my waddling.

_'Great, I can head over to an area and message those two when this whole thing's over!'_

As I reached the entrance, I was about to walk through, when I felt something extremely hard slam into me. Backing up a few steps, I shook my head.

"What the-"

I raised my right hand, reaching out, towards the entrance/exit.

**_Wubwubuwub_ **

A clear, ripple effect would expand out from where I placed my hand. Using my left hand, I felt around the invisible barrier.

"So we can't leave until the phantom guy is finished." I sighed, shaking my head. "This game man..."

I was totally unaware of the situation going on above me. Nothing he said reached my ears... Well,  _clearly_ that is, and that was fine with me.

However, the looks on people's faces alerted me. They weren't expressions of happiness or excitement, but of surprise, anxiety...

Even horror.

People looked pretty scared, and I didn't know why. That fact started to eat at me. What was so scary? I wanted to know!

Shaking my head, I groaned and rested my back against the wall. The best thing to do was to wait until the speech was over.

I decided to open my menu and go over the skills I had so far. Scrolling down the lengthy screen, I finally reach the designated area.

Opening the tab, I looked over the skill names, white circles surrounding the outlined figure of a person.

I sighed. Nothing I had was particularly outstanding. Since I nabbed up the Iron Fist kit, I had it's basic set of skills.  **Two-handed Fist Fighting**  and  **Battle Healing**  weren't fancy. But hopefully with practice I'd be able to hone them well.

Smiling lightly at the thought, I looked up to the sky above, layered over with red. It was somewhat unsightly, dampening my mood just a bit, and dimming my smile.

However, that wasn't what I was focused on. The words. What did those hexagonal things read? W-Waning?

Oh, Warning. Wait, warning? Warning of what...?

That's when the sky shattered from it's crimson embrace, the scarlet alerts disappearing from view and giving weigh to the afternoon sky above.

I exhaled a breath of relieved air as I leaned off the stone wall. Okay, initiation over. Right? Looks like things were back to normal.

Looking around, I quickly caught on to the tremendous silence that took over the players. I didn't get it. Usually after something like that, people would be chattering their heads off about how cool or exciting it was.

That's when my mind flashed back to the faces of terror I'd noticed before, and a sudden sinking feeling etched into my stomach.

I clutched it with my hand as I frowned, looking around. Everything was quiet, dead quiet. Those 4 seconds of stillness were crushing. I could feel the gravity of this world weighing down on my very being. It was like a kettle of tea just ready to blow...

Suddenly, a tremulous shrill erupted into the air, expanding as it transitioned through the crowd and into my ears.

I could've sworn my heart stopped in that single moment, my face paling as I subconsciously anticipated what was about to happen.

Eyes shifting towards the exit out of the plaza, I willed my feet to move with all of my might. As soon as I pushed off, everything seemed to slow down, the world coming to a slow-motion, 4D picturesque.

And that was when the chaos started.  
  


**Satoru (Saito) Narita**

* * *

 

This wasn't good, not good at  _all_.

Apparently, this  _wasn't_  some sort of initiation into the game. Well, it was, but not the type you're thinking of. No no. This took a more,  _realistic_  approach, and I'm not just talking about the VR aspect...

Kayaba, the creator of SAO, had taken every single one of us by surprise. Turns out, this game, is our reality, that the missing logout button  _wasn't_  a mistake, but a new feature. According to the looming phantom, this was going to be our lives, unless we cleared all of Aincrad's 100 floors.

Now, wait a minute. Pause. Rewind. Eject.

This just made absolutely no sense. Why would the creator of the very first VRMMORPG do something as wild and unorthodox as to lock his players within the game and force them to either beat all 100 floors or stay locked up for God knows how long?

Morals aside, that didn't sound like a very smart thing to do. I needed to get some confirmation on this. Ren was a beta tester wasn't she?

I nudged the redhead's arm as I asked. "Hey, was this in the beta? This doesn't seem real. Do you think this is real?"

The red-haired girl only shook her head. "No, it wasn't... I honestly don't know." She frowned. "But I don't think a million-dollar company like Argus would just make something like this up just for kicks, especially with something as fragile as Virtual Reality."

"And people's brains..." Came a weary additional voice.

Both of us turned our heads to see a black-haired man, maybe about in his early twenties or so. The dude was ridiculously handsome, like in an unearthly type of way. He looked like he could be the main character of some adventure anime or something.

"So then, all that this guy's saying is true?" I asked.

The man crossed his arms and eyed the hooded menace above us. "I honestly have to say, yes..." He said, a hint of despair in his voice. The man then proceeded to talk to another man with red hair, similar to Ren's.

Which had just reminded me. As I turned, I noticed she had stalked off through the crowd once more. I groaned and walked after her.

"Ren, you can't just walk off like that!" I stated in an exasperated breath.

She huffed indignantly. "And why not? If this  _is_  our reality, then I need to find Tohru, and fast."

She had a point.

"I guess you're right. But shouldn't we at least wait and hear what else he says?"

"You can wait. Not me. I'm going to find Tohru. So tag along, or stay and gawk." She snarled, slipping past a group of people as he headed deeper into the fray of players.

I for one, needed more than just speculation. I needed cold hard evidence... And that was when large, holographic screens popped up around the phantom, circling his hollow body for all 10,000 players to see.

He explained how the forceful removing of the Nerve Gear on the other side would result in the microwave signals within the console to fry your brain. That, I didn't believe, until I began to take notice as to what was actually on the screens.

They depicted various new reporters standing in front of houses with surrounding, yellow  **CAUTION!** tape, telling viewers about how unsuspecting family members took off certain players' helmets, resulting in fatal brain damage.

I gulped down the rising fear in my throat, eyeing the screens in shock. So then, what he said, everything,  _was_  true. But then again, this could all be a ploy, just some really sick idea created by one of Argus's staff, right?

No, that doesn't make sense... Ren was right, the company was too large to do something so stupid as joke around with something as big as this.

So this meant, everything he said, about the log out button, it was true, no doubt. Kayaba Akihiko had locked us in this world, and the only way for us to get back to the real world, was through beating all 100 floors.

Great.

_'_ ** _Love_** _how my day's going so far...'_ I thought, rolling my eyes at this whole ordeal.

But oh! It got better! Much, much better! Let me just break it down to you. Turns out, we couldn't even keep our avatars! (Though that really didn't matter much to me. I mean, the only thing I changed was like, my hairstyle a bit... I think.)

Before he took his leave, we would receive mirrors from the ever-so-gracious floating phantom of darkness. The little exclamation point alerted me to the item, and I materialized it with a click of the screen.

Soon the thing fell into my right hand, and I looked into it. I raised my right brow. Was something supposed to happen? Nothing was happening. Was this just some other sick joke? Like the mirror was supposed to be some sort of ugly metaphor or something like that?

My assumptions, unfortunately, were completely off, for moments later, my entire body lit up like chandelier.

"What-"

The warmth encasing my body was similar to that of teleportation, but much more, harsh I guess? That was the word. Out of the corner of my eye I could make out the figure of Ren, eyeing her body weirdly. She hadn't gone far in her search. Considering the amount of people cramped into one area, I could see why.

I then looked around to see everyone else going through the same candle-lighting process. And like that, the whole plaza was lit up in a crazy array of blinding light.

I closed my eyes, and--shortly after--reopened them, as I felt the heat of the light fade away from my body.

I shook myself from the jitters the process gave me, before looking into the mirror once again. And there I was. Satoru Narita, high-schooler, soccer player, and middle child to three other siblings. Saito was nowhere to be seen, just the normal, brown-haired boy that stared back.

"Aw great..." I grumbled as I felt my face and rustled my hair to make sure this wasn't some joke, that other people had also changed. Unfortunately, it wasn't a joke.

The once beautifully shaped players of Aincrad, were turned into a mix of NEETs, teens in  _way_  over their head, children, and the poor, unsuspecting elderly...

It was official. This sucked.

And then Kayaba had the audacity to  _wish us well_ , and with a bright and flashy final show of power, the gigantic hooded collection of data, dispersed, it's contents scattered about in virtual sprinkles of light.

The red  **WARNING**  signs suddenly gave way to the afternoon sky, disappearing from sight row after row.

Everything came to a standstill at that moment. Nothing moved, no birds, footsteps, not even the sound of breathing would escape the crushing silence that constricted the 10,000 players within the plaza.

I was one of them. All of this was a huge shock. It mentally rocked me a bit. I mean, what a plot twist man...

Though, that wasn't my concern right now. I knew what would come right after these few seconds of respite, and I didn't like it.

This most definitely wasn't good. I needed to get out of here before things-

"N-No!...  **NOOOOOOOO**!" The shrill of a young girl, screaming at the top of very lungs resounded about the plaza like she was yelling through some sort of speakerphone.

_'Damn it.'_ I thought. I doubted no one heard that.

"Tch." I sucked my teeth as the scream filled the air, starting a chain reaction like I've never seen, or heard, before. Like wildfire, people began to voice their disapproval of this new feature. Roars of anger, pain, despair, there wasn't a voice left unheard.

"HEY! This isn't funny! Let us out of here!"

"This is a joke right...? Right?!"

"MY SON! PLEASE HE'S ONLY TWELVE! LET ME GO!"

"Nononononononono!"

"GET ME OUT OF HERE!"

People yelled and wailed at the top of their lungs, soul crushing, heart wrenching cries. I felt for them...

I really did.

But I knew this would only escalate into something more dangerous. What I needed to do first was get out of here. I flicked my eyes to the edge of the city and with no hesitation, began to move.

Like I predicted, soon enough, people began to get wild. Fights began to break out around the plaza. I could see kids screaming and wailing on the ground, adults throwing punches and crying out with anger, the more elderly players trying their best to navigate through the crowd.

This completely and utterly sucked... Did I say that already? Well it definitely deserved another mention.

At one point I was shoved into a fight of my own, smacking into one of the spontaneous brawlers.

"Crap... sorry man." I huffed, trying to get my bearings.

"Huh?!" The burly voice of a male resonated from behind me. I then felt myself get thrown off, barely catching myself from completely falling.

"What the-!" I coughed as I scrambled back upright, only to find myself head to head with some overly buff dude. The guy was bald except for a thick brown mohawk down the middle of his head.

"You wanna go at it too bub?!" He snarled, cracking his knuckles.

I laughed nervously. "Ah, I'd rather not dude." I said, holding my hands out to show I didn't mean any harm. Though, I think all he saw was red. He charged right at me.

"Raghh!"

"Ahhh!" I yelled right back, pushing off my front foot and backing off. i prayed to God this dude didn't hit me. With all that muscle? I'd be dead from one hit. I just knew it.

I liked my face!

He swung hard, the fist aimed straight for my jaw. But the swing was slow and wide, which gave me enough time to duck under and push against him to propel myself away once again.

I stumbled backwards once again and drew my sword reluctantly. "Dude, I don't wanna fight you!"

"Get your ass over here, punk!"

He began to rush towards me once more. I growled in frustration and brought my sword to rest on my shoulder.

I analyzed the dude really quickly. He was definitely strong, really strong. Though, I was much faster by comparison. If I hit him hard and fast enough in  _just_ the right area, I could cripple him just long enough to get out of here.

As I was contemplating what to do, I had almost forgotten about the actual fight itself, and completely missed the entrance of a certain redhead.

Well, until she screamed at me...

"OY! PUT THAT DAMN THING AWAY!"

My eyes shot up to see a streak of red fly right past me. My eyes slowly widened as I found myself staring at the quickest sparring match I've ever witnessed in my life.

The girl in front of me, struck out with her right foot, stamping down against the floor with her left. The man was totally caught by surprise from the girl's entrance, but it was too late. He was charging, and the momentum from both her foot and his face collided with a harmonious,

**WHAM!**

The kick was so fast, my eyes couldn't keep up. It seemed to disappear for just a moment, before it slammed right into the dude's face.

The guy wrestled with his balance as he clutched his face in what I would think to be agony. Though I remembered the "no-pain factor" in the game. Even then, the best part, was that she didn't stop there!

Like lightning, her fist jettisoned out from her body, plowing into the dude's face with a series of extremely fast and hard-looking punches. I could see the muscles in her arms flex through her shirt as she struck over and over. Man they looked like they hurt.

**BLAMBLAMBLAM!**

The deep resonant sounds of her fists rung out as they rammed straight into the man's mug. After about the 5th punch, the redhead would suddenly shoot a sharp elbow right into the guy's nose, which most definitely keeled the him over.

He wouldn't register the impact of Ren's heel crashing into the side of his face before he was sent to the ground with a harsh:

**BANG!**

The spinning kick move she did worked to put the man in his place. Again, though, it was quite fast. All I noticed was her body swivel around--like a wild, red, spinning top--before wham! The kick flew out.

Me? I was blown away...

This girl was crazy. That's what kept replaying over and over in my head. I stared at the scene before me, and so had a few others. Some of the rioters had stopped to gander at the spectacle.

A teenage girl, who couldn't be older than 17, single-handedly brought down a man, who I knew for a fact, had to be the predecessor of some ancient war god or something. Dude was ripped!

However, a hand grabbed me before I could see any further, and pulled me along. "Come on idiot! We gotta move!"

I was shaken from my awe-stricken expression, and turned to see the girl who'd just saved my pretty face from eternal decimation.

Turning to look at me with a somewhat worried look in her eyes, Ren quickly asked,

"You alright?"

Yup, it was most definitely her.

However, she looked a bit different. Her hair, instead of a full and deep red, had a ginger tint to it, like a natural redhead would have. She had a small line of freckles along her nose and cheeks, and her eyes were now hazel in color. The multi-colored orbs focused on me and me alone in the crowd of hysteria, glints of grey and green swimming around in her gaze.

I'd almost forgotten to breath as I looked at her. If a girl could look more beautiful than they already had 5 minutes ago, she most _definitely_  took the cake. I mean, any girl who could bring a 6'2" bull of a man down to his knees and look at me like she just did, had my heart for life!

But there was no way in hell I was going to tell her that. No. Friggin. Way.

"Y-Yeah, thanks." I coughed out, clearing my throat as I averted my gaze, trying my best to cool my heated cheeks.

She nodded. "Good, now come on, and put that sword away! We're still civil here!"

I raised my eyebrows at the fact while I was dragged along, swiftly putting away my sword. She was right. I was about to use my weapon on a civilian. That wasn't cool. No matter how hungry he was for my face, I could not carve him into Sushi-sized pieces. Hopefully he didn't hold that against me.

Suddenly, I remembered Ren's little brother, Tohru. I cursed under my breath, following after her as best I could. We needed to find him. Who knew what mumbo jumbo he was caught up in. Hopefully he was some place remotely safe.

My eyes kept focused on Ren's back, using it as a focal point as we moved through the rustling and bustling crowd. And as I watched her, I'd began to take notice of it, from her display of obvious physical prowess, and just now, from simply running.

Ren was fast, and fluid.

Her steps never missed a beat, and her body moved in a sort of rhythm, like some internal drum always kept her on tempo.

She weaved through the crowd like some type of guru. I don't even think anyone physically touched her. I couldn't see her eyes, but I had a good feeling as to how they would appear.

Sharp.

Focused.

These words came to mind. The girl was headstrong, aggressive, and single-minded at times. But, simultaneously, she was also perceptive, and instinctual. At times said instinct seemed to swallow her up, like back then.

When she fought, she fought  _well_.

_'Hm.'_

Tug!

"Yack!"

I was jerked from my conscious  _once again_ by the redhead's screaming.

"My god would you get your head out of your ass already!?" She snapped at me, grabbing at my wrist and yanking me through, just before two players collided with each other.

"This is madness." I muttered.

Ren didn't answer. Instead, she grumbled inaudibly. Though I could've sworn I heard something about "stupid boys" somewhere in there.

Hmph.

Soon enough we were able to clear out from the fray, making it out into the streets. We both caught our breath, our bodies sprawled out across the walls and ground of a random alleyway.

I could still hear the noise of rioting and roars of anguish from within the streets. I did my best to block out the sounds and focus on us.

"Everything's gone to shit..." Ren breathed out, eyeing the streets as well. "And Tohru's somewhere out there, probably scared out of his mind."

I looked to her, noticing her balled fists. That's when the fight from before flashed into my mind, I brought my knees to my chest, resting my arms atop them.

"Hey, how did you learn to fight like that?" I asked, eyeing her curiously. She eyed me in that moment, her eyes, flecked with shades of green and grey, dimming just a bit. Her whole expression seemed to glaze over for just a moment, before she looked away, shrugged and muttered.

"YouTube videos."

I looked at her weirdly, wondering what that was all about, before I pouted at the response. At that moment though, I gained a bit more respect for her. I knew a few people who would've bragged about having moves like that. She didn't even use any sword skills did she?

If she did, it looked way too natural for me to realize. The next words out her mouth were predicted.

"I'm going." She said finally, stepping out from the shadows of the alleyway and slamming her fist into the palm of her other hand.

I kept my eyes on her as she looked out onto the street, her own pupils shaking. I don't know if she was angry or fearful. But she didn't lack in determination. No siree, she was filled to the brim.

I rubbed my head, starting to put everything in perspective for a moment. This needed to be done. Well I needed it to be at least. I couldn't just go forth without bringing everything together. So, let's do this. By the end of today, the city would--most likely--be overrun, and in shambles (well, as much in shambles as the system would let it).

In a few days chaos would turn into war. War would result in death. Death would mean held grudges, and picked sides, which would turn into gangs, turf wars, and  _all_  that good stuff...

Worst case scenario, no one's focused on the actual objective, which was probably lost in all of this already.

Kayaba didn't just trap us here.

He gave us a way out, beating all 100 floors. But, being human, we wouldn't give it much thought. The more experienced players would most likely take the better drops to help ensure their survival and leave the rest to crumble under the weight of the whole situation...

I didn't want that to happen. I couldn't let that happen. One because I'd be caught right in the middle of it. I'm not a beta tester. I'd be thrown away with the others.

And two, because it just feels wrong to leave it as is, and I didn't like the fact that innocents could definitely get hurt if this whole thing erupted even more than it already has.

So, silently, in the back of my mind, I began to formulate an idea, not a plan yet! More like, a rough sketch.

Yeah.

"You coming?" Ren asked, looking back at me. Her red hair was flown over her shoulders and an arched eyebrow questioned me silently.

"What's with the weird look?" She asked.

I'd just noticed I'd been staring at her for the past minute or so. Shaking my head with a sigh, I stood to my feet, reassuring her.

"Nothing, just thinking. Let's find your brother." I nodded.

Ren nodded back and the two of us turned to the chaos outside our little alleyway.

"Yeah, let's..."

**Tohru (Tokage) Takagi**

* * *

 

"Woah! Watch it!" I yelled as I was shoved to the ground.

Some players with loads of items in their hand had rushed by me, running away from a couple of screaming female players.

"HEY!"

"Give us back our stuff!"

"Ha! Not a chance!" One of the two males scoffed.

"Survival of the fittest girls!"

The two grown men laughed as the sauntered along, leaving the two girls in a heaping mess of tears.

My heart went out to them as I sent a piercing glare to the backs of the retreating thieves. I would've started a fight with them, but I was much smaller than they were.

What good was a 13-year old boy going to do against two fully grown men, who were probably more experienced than he was.

Still, I felt for those girls...

I sighed as I got up from the floor and dusted off my pants. I needed to find away out of here, to someplace more secluded where I could hide and message his sister.

Though, just to hit it off, I opened my messages and typed in Reiha's avatar name.

**Do You Want To Send [** Ren **] a Friend Request?**

**O: Yes X: No**

I pressed yes and closed my menu, hoping she'd accept quickly so I could tell her where I was...

Where was I anyway?

On some random street within the city. I wasn't far from the main plaza, but with all the people fighting and screaming and what not, I lost all sense of direction.

It was frustrating. Could people just calm down?!

Geez...

I looked around, wondering what to do next, when I felt myself get shoved right back onto the ground.

I landed with an unceremonious:

"Oof!"

"Haha! Hey boys, see what he's got on 'im." Came the snobby voice of a teenage boy. I heard the others laughing behind him as they neared me, their shadows looming over my fallen body.

I coughed out some dirt I'd unfortunately eaten, hefting myself to my knees with my hands, before the sharp, gut-wrenching pain of being someone's foot slamming into my stomach, knocked me right back down.

"Ughhh..." I groaned, clutching my stomach as I keeled over.

"Check him quickly!"

"Little punk! Empty everything you have out your inventory." One of the boys said, prodding at me with the butt of his knife.

I glared up to him, taking in his appearance. The boy had shaggy brown hair, covering one side of his face, including his left eye. His other stared at me blankly. His mouth formed a hardline as he jabbed at me once more, seeing that I wasn't moving.

"I'm not gonna ask again."

"Oh you two are hopeless..." the leader from before spoke, approaching and shoving the dull boy aside.

"Move, Frisk." He growled as he grabbed my collar, and lifted me up in the air with both hands.

"Kid, I'll ask you one last time, give us all your stuff, or you gonna feel the worst ass kicking of your life."

The boy had dirty blonde hair, freckles lined his face. It was an American-looking one, with a hint of Japanese sprinkled in there somewhere.

His auburn eyes stared into mine almost crazily. His fists shook as he tightened his grips against my collar.

I smirked weakly as I placed a hand against his right. "You really think you can beat me? Tokage? The one and only?!" I burst out into a flurry of chuckles, scoffing at the man hoisting me in the air.

"Ha! You've got another thing 'comin  _little_   _boy_." I spat out the last words out of spite.

The boy growled. "That's it you little shrimp!"

Reeling his hand back, the boy raised me just a bit higher as if he wanted a perfect target he could pummel into.

I wouldn't give him that chance.

My hand, slipped from his and struck out swiftly. The loose hand formed into a fist as it slammed into the boy's face, effectively stunning him.

"Ack!" He growled, holding his face and letting go of me.

As I landed I shot my hands out once more, this time, grabbing onto his hair. I remembered seeing my sister do this one time when she fought one of those older kids bullying others at our school. It was by happenstance.

When I questioned her about it, she said, _'If you've got a good hold on someone's hair, you can basically make them do whatever you want.'_

I was sort of skeptic about what she said, but I found out she was right.

With a heavy yank, I ripped at the boy's head, flinging him face first into my rising knee.

**BAM!**

"Glurh!" he groaned as he reeled back. I could've sworn I felt his nose break, stumbling back, in awe at how effective that was.

"Zeth!"

"Dude, what the hell!"

I backed up slowly, eyes widening at what I'd just done.

"Oh crap..." I gasped, before turning and stumbling into a hurried run. "Gotta go, gotta go, gotta go!"

"Get 'im!" The boy named Zeth roared as he nursed his nose. "NOW!"

Frisk and another boy, I didn't catch his name, ran along after me, I could hear them yelling at me to stop.

_'Ha! Like hell! I'm NOT gonna win against those three.'_

Floundering around a corner, I found myself in another street of rowdy chaos, being pushed by a group of men raiding an NPC's jewelry mat. I almost fell, but caught myself and continued to run.

I ran, and ran, not giving a single care about how tired I'd be. My blood pumped and pumped as my legs carried me all the way towards the edge of the city. I didn't dare look back, and I prayed  they got tired and gave up.

With all that was happening right now, who knows what they'd do to me...

It'd be about 15 minutes or so since I started running, and I would find myself outside of the city, in the West Fields.

I was so tired, I couldn't feel my legs.

My whole body felt like it weighed a ton, and my consciousness was fading. I didn't even have the strength to hide myself somewhere before I abruptly collapsed to the ground.

The pitiful thud resonated around the fairly empty field, gather the attention of some unexpected visitors.

I'd totally forgotten about the mob spawns...

_'Crap...'_

And like that, my sight would fade to black as I slipped into the depths of my subconscious. The last thing I would see would be a pair of black boots walking towards me.

_'Great, another person who wants my stuff...'_

Soon, I felt nothing.

**Reiha (Ren) Takagi**

* * *

 

"Hey!" I chirped up as a notification from my brother popped up onto my HUD (Heads-Up Display). Saito and I had hid from the chaos inside the pub we were in prior to this whole fiasco.

Saito leaned over to take a peek and I made my menu visible so he could see.

"Tohru sent me a friend request."

"Nice." He sighed. I could hear the relief in his voice, which made me somewhat glad for some reason.

Someone else cared. That fact, in and of itself, felt good.

Needless to say, I accepted without any hesitation, and just like that I activated the Friend Finder.

The feature told you the exact location of the players on your Friends list. Unless they were in a dungeon or weren't on your list, you'd be able to find them.

As I switched it on, his location pinged into existence, and I let a relieved sigh flow from my lips. He was alive.

_'Thank God...'_

"Alright, looks like he's outside the city."

"Can he handle those mobs by himself?" Saito asked as he opened the door of the tavern to leave.

I shrugged as I grabbed for the door and swung it wide open, offsetting Saito's balance in the process, though it didn't seem like he minded.

"I don't know, or care to find out, let's go."

"Alright."

The two of us set off into the dangerous, raging streets of the Town of Beginnings. We didn't make it far until we were caught in yet  _another_  web of bullshit (It'd been the third time today).

This time, what had gathered the crowd of useless spectators to come watch, was none other than another crazed maniac, spouting nonsense. A fanatic speaking about his beliefs in trying times to get to stir people to his side. This was like their playground. Once disaster of any form befell them, they'd crow to the heavens about the end of the world and what not.

Except, this man wasn't doing that. No, this was different. He was--oh you're going to get a kick outta this--telling people to jump off the edge of the Town of Beginnings with him.

...

No. I don't think you heard me correctly. Let me clarify. Ahem... Mmmm, ahemhem.

**He Was Gathering Supporters To** **_Jump Off_ ** **The Edge Of The Town of Beginnings With Him!**

"HARK!" The loony boomed, spreading his scrawny arms wide and proud. "People of Japan! This is but a farce! A sick joke playing on our fears to produce higher ratings for the game!"

_'What...?'_

I thought, watching him walk along the collected wooden boxes he was using as a stand. This idiot was still in denial wasn't he? This was most definitely real. Nothing in the beta had anything like this.

Plus, those news reports weren't a joke...

That's right, I did listen to the floaty thingy.  _Proceeds to stick her tongue out._

"It is  _nothing_  but an illusion people!" The man said as he walked along the edge of the boxes. I had such an urge to kick at it to see if he'd fall... It'd totally make my day.

"If we feel like there is actually no way to exit the game but play, we will do just that, there for creating high numbers for the first virtual reality game ever made!"

_'You're completely forgetting the fact that this could--and most likely is--having the complete opposite affect on the company than what you're so happily preaching, aren't ya?'_

Mass Suicide was what we were talking about here! I mean, this dude was really having at it too! Just letting go all of his religious knowledge.

"Kayaba is simply testing our resolve as humans to finish the game! and this so called suicide, folks?" He added the air quotes for emphasis.

"That, my friends, is just your way of saying you don't want to play anymore, that you don't want to be apart of this deranged world, that you would rather break  _free_ from the curse known as Sword. Art. Online, than be  _shackled_  by it's supposed grandeur!!"

The crowd that had gathered erupted into cheer at the man's words. I had to admit, he had a way with words. And his voice was none to joke at. He may have looked like a nobody, but he spoke like a somebody.

The man wore the regular, in-game, civilian clothing. Nothing out of the ordinary. Cloth shirt, pants, leather boots. His face had an angular shape, with beady, black eyes and a sharp, long nose. From his mouth to his ears were covered over by a five o'clock shadow, and he spoke with pride and strength, false hope ringing with every word uttered from his mouth.

He already had about 10 supporters with him. One, sadly, being a mother, and her daughter... That poor idiot. What was she fricking thinking?! I had half a mind to rip the two off the stage and knock that stupid preacher's teeth in.

However, the image of my brother flashed into my mind once again. And like that I walked past and towards the edge of the city once more.

"Come on Saito, Tohru's waiting, we don-. Saito?" I stopped and looked back to see the brown-haired boy staring at the scene.

"What're you doing?" I frowned as I stalked back over to him, hoping he wasn't having one of those weird, thoughtful lapses he always had.

I grabbed for his hand and he, just as quickly, shook it off. He looked at the scene with concerned eyes. And I knew what was going through his mind.

"Ren we ha-"

"No. No, we don't." I snarled, shoving his shoulder back so he could turn and look at me. "Saito, if those people want to go off themselves then let them. Let's go find my brother and get out of this city. Everything's gonna go to hell anyway."

"No, we can't," Saito replied stubbornly as he raised his finger, pointing at the deluded mother and her daughter.

"That little girl couldn't be a day older than seven! I'm not just going to sit by and watch as they kill themselves off like that!"

"Fine, don't stand! Move!" I snarled, grabbing for his arm again. He frustratedly shrugged me off once more.

"Are you serious, Ren?!" He asked, staring at me, bewildered with what I was saying.

"Hell yeah, I am!" I retorted, pushing my finger into his chest. "My little brother is out in God knows where fighting God knows  _what_  on his own! I am  _not_  going to sit here and try to coerce a bunch of heretics  _not_  to kill themselves! If they want to take the eternal shortcut then by all fricking means  _let 'em_!"

I could almost picture myself foaming at the mouth with anger at that very moment, the last two words were ground out of my clenched jaw. However, Saito's expression caught me in my display of frustration.

The look of disgust he gave me... like he'd just seen something beautiful, rot away into a heap of ugly...

That look made a pang of guilt soar throughout my body.

I took a step back and lowered my head a bit, resting my hands on my hips. My eyes traversed to the floor as I averted his gaze. That really sounded mean... But I wasn't going to steer from my word.

"Is that really how you feel?" He asked softly, his words held a trembling amount of calm to them. Saito rested his hands on his knees and leaned down, tilting his head up to see my face.

His brown eyes held a glimmer of hope, hoping that what I said wasn't really the case, that I was just venting my anger as I always do. I could tell. The way they shook with sullen optimism...

But, that was exactly the case. And I would stand by it without a doubt. My brother came first, and no one else.

No one.

I raised my head and nodded.

"That's how I feel, Saito." I said, the hint of finality in my voice affirming his suspicions. He looked at me for a bit, raising his body and standing upright. I looked back, evening my gaze with his.

The two of us stared at each other, as if looking for a way to reconcile with one another, to find that small sliver of doubt in each other's eyes.

But neither of us budged an inch. We both were adamant in our beliefs.

And that was that.

We nodded at each other, knowing what both of us had to do. Saito had his own goal and I had mine.

With a pivot and turn, the two of us parted ways. Me with my  _sane_  determination to find my brother, and Saito with his incredibly stupid, wayward willingness to help save those lost causes.

Well, that wasn't me. I wasn't going to risk the chance of my brother losing his life over a group of randoms who were literally willing to jump to their death over a stupid hunch, over-exaggerated and romanticized by some  _stunod_  with a mildly convincing tone.

Heck, they could all hold hands and sing "London Bridge is Falling Down" as they did! As long as my brother was missing, I didn't care about anything else..

So we went our separate ways. One to save a group of idiots, and the other, to save her little brother.


	4. The World of the Living

( **Disclaimer:**  Sword Art Online (Novel) is owned by Reki Kawahara, abec, ACII Media Works and Yen Press. We only own our concepts and concepts)

** November 6, 2022 **

** Town of Beginnings/Starting City **

**Satoru (Saito) Narita**

* * *

 

Man, this was nuts. This was genuinely nuts! These people were saddled up, ready to throw their lives away, only because of the mere and-might I say-very slim chance that what Royce said was true.

Ah, yes.

Royce was the name of the man standing on top of those stacks of boxes, preaching the "word" to whoever was compelled listen. And oh, there were quite a few who were, quite a few. Call it grasping for straws, but these people-considering the events that'd just conspired-would listen to anyone who promised them even a glimpse of hope.

Under different circumstances, this would be somewhat of a good thing wouldn't it? Yet, it wasn't. Because a group suicide mission was something of cults and crazies. Nevertheless, people jumping to their deaths wasn't something I could just stand by and watch happen. So, the plan so far was to, first, get these people sane, then, work on gathering some sort of order within the city. Who knew how many others like Royce were out there.

This was going to be tough, especially with me being only one person, one who knew as much about this game as a toddler knows how to do a backflip...

Not so much.

Though, I've seen one do it before! He almost broke his neck mind you, but flipped like none before him-or at all. It was glorious!

He even landed on all fours!

Sorta!

So maybe I have a chance, no matter how miniscule it might be.

Currently, I was politely shoving my way through the crowd of people who'd bunched together to hear Royce speak about how, and I quote:

"I, Royce, swear on my life that my words are true!"

I really hoped the man was willing to keep that word of his. Because I literally saw no way in which this could work. How in the God given world would falling off the edge of town and killing yourself in here, magically bring you back in the real world?

The mechanics seemed so off...

Ren (a sore subject right now) and that other guy from before had said that everything Kayaba told us seemed to be true. I happened to bump into another beta tester who confirmed my thoughts once again. They aren't bad guys really, don't know why everyone hates them. Guess people just needed someone else they could pin the blame on besides, you know, the big, floaty, hooded demon in the sky, roaring his guiltiness for all of Aincrad to hear!

But anyways, back on topic.

Argus was a huge company, I mean billions of dollars to the name. So the fact that their CEO, and the very creator of Sword Art Online-the game in which we were imprisoned-told us about the sheer reality of all of this, and even provided stone cold evidence to back it up...

There was no other reason for anyone to listen to this guy but fear. They were scared. I could tell, seeing that crazed light in the eyes of almost every person I passed on the way to the front. These people needed someone who could tell them what to do, and the person who sounded the most convincing at the time, was this guy.

I needed to change that.

"Excuse me. 'Scuse me. Just tryna get through here." I apologized as I managed my way through the crowd. It'd take a few moments but I'd finally reach the front.

And to my utter relief, I found that I wasn't the only one trying to talk some sense into Royce. There, right in front of the collection of boxes, stood a girl, about my age.

She had lush, indigo hair that flowed down her back and over her shoulders. The girl wore a red long-sleeved shirt, underneath a leather breastplate, a black skirt, and black leggings. At her hip hung a simple straight sword. She had the normal civilian leather boots. The thing was, she didn't look Japanese at all. American was the first thing that came to mind, though I could definitely see her being a European. She had a European nose.

Nonetheless, her Japanese was flawless.

She seemed to be trying to calm Royce down, like he was off his meds or something. I caught her tone as she spoke and quickly noticed its surprising gracefulness, and the calmness it exuded. In the midst of all of the chaos happening around the city, it was one thing I felt myself gravitate towards.

"Royce, please stop this," She said, gesturing with her hands to the ten players who'd joined him atop the boxes. "This isn't the way we should be dealing with things right now. These people are scared, and so are you. Are you really going to put a child's life in danger because of what you think to be true?"

'Preach.' I thought, smirking to myself as I neared the situation. 'I think I just found ally number one.'

"Hey." I said, making my presence known to the girl. She turned at the sound of my voice, greeting me with soft, dark blue eyes. The orbs peered at me curiously.

She gave me a cautious smile, tugging lightly at the tips of her shirt's sleeves. "Ah, hello," she said, tilting her head ever so slightly.

"Forgive me for being blunt, but, who are you?"

I was eyeing Royce wearily, before my gaze would travel across the line of players behind him, landing on the mother and her little girl. Sighing, I returned to the conversation, letting a disarming smile flow onto my visage.

"My name's Saito," I said, reaching out my hand to greet her. "Nice to meet you."

She eyed me for a moment, then my hand, before-reluctantly-taking and shaking it. "I'm Holi. Nice to meet you too." She smiled, albeit somewhat warily. I couldn't blame her. This wasn't really an opportune time to be happy-go-lucky and welcoming. Yet, she extended that courtesy anyways.

So her name was Holi. Short, to the point, and easy to remember.

I smiled.

Though, Royce's barking from above returned me to the task at hand. We dropped the shake and I took a few quick steps back to see the full picture, my hands subconsciously finding their way into my pants pockets. "This doesn't look good," I said, a pout forming at the edges of my lips. I gave Holi a quick glance.

"He doesn't seem to be listening to you."

She shook her head. "I've been trying for a while now, but he's hellbent on this. He's been ignoring me for some time." She sighed, rubbing one of her temples. "This is absolutely absurd. I can't allow these people to do this..."

I nodded and took my hands from my pockets, walking towards the boxes. A baby plan had just birthed to mind as I'd eyed the situation.

"Neither can I, Holi. Neither can I."

The girl looked at me weirdly. Maybe it was my tone, but that was deliberated. I raised my hand high, high in air. And suddenly, the most innocent, heartfelt smile sprung to life along my countenance. I mentally pictured Theodore from Alvin and the Chipmunks.

I looked much, much less cute, more like a fish, on its first date with dry land...

...

Anyways, I decided that if speaking wouldn't work, I'd just yell.

"HEY! Royce! HEYYY! Hey! Hey! Hey! Me! Pick me!"

Oh that got his attention. The man stopped his ranting and looked down at me. The height difference suddenly irked me, just a smudge. Though I kept my calm and smiled the sweet smile, continuing with the charade.

"I believe! Please, oh please let me jump with you!" I pleaded, fluttering my lashes and everything. Oh this was so left field!

I tried my best not to laugh as I channeled my inner "crazy devotee". There were other ways to get on top that stage. I could by force, I could join Holi and argue with him from below until I was blue in the face.

However, this option was one he wouldn't see coming. One that I could take advantage of, not only to knock some sense into him, but to also take charge of the crowd.

And so, I played crazy.

"I want to be free!"

I didn't even need to turn to picture Holi's expression. I could feel her eyes staring lasers at the back of my head as Royce's face lit up with enthusiasm.

"Ah, another believer! Well step on up here, young man!" He proclaimed, reaching down with his hand as I took it and hefted myself up onto the boxes.

"Osu."

My hands found themselves back into their pockets while I waddled my way over to the 10 others lined up behind him. I don't know why they didn't just group together. This thing was really ricketty.

It felt as if it could fall at any moment.

As I turned to face the crowd, my eyes fell upon Holi. Her mouth was ever open and her eyebrows shot into her hairline.

Basically her expression was screaming _"What The Hell?!"_

I simply winked at her, a wolfish smile slipping onto my features. My eyes glanced over at the mother and child, the former giving me a reassuring nod. Though I could see the desperation in her eyes. She wanted to get out of here, not for her, but for her daughter. Kayaba scared her to her very core, and she was just about ready to try anything to save her child's life. She was a good mother, but she was being led by the wrong person. I looked to the child, who seemed confused and scared. The little girl stayed close to her mother, clutching her like a lifeline.

I sighed. She didn't even know what in the world was going on... Whatever her mother did, she'd soon follow suit. That, I couldn't let happen. And so my back-up plan continued to form. I tapped the box I was standing on to check its safety. It wobbled unsteadily.

'Nice.'

My gaze then traversed over to Royce, who was once again preaching his beliefs and ideals in the form of "truth". I would've glared if I wasn't in character. Instead, I would let him continue with his speech for at least another minute or two, solidifying my plan quietly.

As I did so, I also silently swore to myself that if I didn't do anything else to help this city, I would save these 10 players from jumping off that railing, no matter what.

And with that goal in mind, I took a deep breath.

It was time to get to work

**Tohru (Tokage) Takagi**

* * *

 

"Ugh..."

My head hurt, and my body ached every time I moved it. My eyes slowly fluttered open to tiredly reveal to me my surroundings.

Where was I? What was going on? Last time I remember I was running away from those boys, then I... I collapsed I think.

I turned my body, squinting around. Seriously, where in the world was I? Everything was a blur... Man... is this what people with hangovers feel like?

I shifted my body just a little and instantly noticed it. Whatever I was resting on... It was really soft...

Like really soft.

I slowly pushed up from the surface and gently shook my head, blinking my eyes a few times before my vision cleared itself.

There, under me, laid one of the most beautifully sculpted pair of legs I'd ever seen in my life. My mouth gaped as I stared dumbly at the pair of thighs under me. My eyes then slowly trailed down the line as I followed the appendages all the way to black boots.

Wait, those boots...

Those were the ones I saw before I passed out! I quickly pushed myself away and scrambled backward against the ground, the movement coincidentally rewarding me a full look at the owner of such cautious footwear.

Staring back at me, head slightly tilted, sat a girl. Light blonde hair flowed down the sides of her face, looking pretty frazzled and frayed, yet oddly complimented her dark brown eyes, which blinked owlishly in my direction. She looked pretty dirtied, like she'd been rolling around on the ground or something.

She wore a brown poncho - which covered most of her attire - over what looked like a black long-sleeved shirt. She had on dark green shorts that stopped mid-thigh, leaving those nicely shaped legs to strut their stuff, all the way down to black boots.

Though, again, she looked pretty dirty, and tired. I watched as she sighed, closing her eyes and rubbing them wearily.

"Thank God. I thought you died or something." She said, her voice had a hint of raspiness to it, but it also sounded young and chipper. It reminded me of my sister's a bit.

Probably seeing my wariness, the girl quickly put on a smile and shot her hands up. "Ah, I'm not going to hurt you, 'kay?" She said, pointing into the fields a mile or two ahead, within a clearing. I could see the Town of Beginnings in the distance.

"I saved you from some roaming Boar. They were coming to get you." She said, looking around. "So I brought you to this forest to lose them. Seems like we did."

At that, my eyes scanned the area, just now taking in my surroundings. We were in a forest of some kind, it was far away from the city. There was just a big stretch of thick trees between the Starting City, and the other village, Horunka, minus the large prairie right outside the city.

"Ah, okay..." I said, albeit with some loose form of caution in my voice. I returned to the conversation with a nod in the blonde's direction, apologizing for my discretion.

"Thank you for saving me, miss. "

"Kirie." The girl smiled. "It's Kirie, and no problem." She said with a grunt, standing to her feet and patting off her backside.

"Now. Are you gonna tell me your name? Or.."

"Ah, right. Sorry." I said as I stood up as well, noticing Kirie's height. She was a pretty short girl. My sister was taller than her by at least a few inches. I think even I may've been.

"I'm Toh- kage. Right, Tokage. Nice to meet you." I managed out.

Kirie raised a well done eyebrow, tilting her head ever so slightly as she crossed her arms, cocking out her right hip. "Well, nice to meet you Tokage."

The blonde smirked before transferring her eyes deeper into the forest. "Say, there's supposed to be a village near here. Right?"

"Oh, Horunka? Yeah, it's the second settlement on Floor 1."

Kirie's eyes shot back over to me as both eyebrows raised this time. "Wow, alright then. Thanks." She laughed, before raising her arms in the air, stretching her limbs.

"Welp!" She groaned in satisfaction at the pops of relief her body created. "I think we should head there. The Town of Beginnings is filled with a bunch of crazies right now. Maybe Horunka won't be as bad. Then we could get an in-"

"Wait." I stopped her, shaking my head and waving my arms in front of me. "With all due respect, Miss Kirie. Why're you so immediately on board with me tagging along? To be honest, you barely know me, and, vice-versa..."

I noticed her shrug and heard her say:

"I just like kids."

My gaze narrowed slightly at those four words and I slowly inched away from the female. "Oh..."

Kirie must've noticed this, because she flew to correct her words, swiftly waving her hands in front of her face.

"No no no! Not like that." She sighed. "I'm not a pedophile or anything."

"Mhm."

"I'm serious, Tokage."

I squinted at her, mouth puckering up in thought. I nodded slowly as I crossed my arms. "Of course you're not..." That was exactly what a pedophile would say.

Kirie sighed and shrugged. "Fine, go." She said, throwing her hands in the air, grumbling to herself in frustration.

"You try to do one good thing..."

I dropped my facade, and my arms, sighing and shaking my head. "I'm sorry," I started, rubbing the back of my head, giving her a weary smirk.

"It's just been a rough day..."

The blonde looked at me as she sat back down, then nodded and closed her eyes. "You're telling me..." She said, before tucking her mouth under the cover of her poncho as she settled back against the tree she was situated against before.

I watched her for a few moments, before the thought of my sister quickly shot me back to reality. I was about to open my messenger and tell her where I was, before the most ear-splitting, gut-wrenching sound pierced my ears.

GRUUUUOOOOHHHH!

Both of our eyes snapped towards the source of the sound, still as deer in headlights.

"What was that?" I gulped, eyes wide as a shiver ran up my spine.

"I dunno." Kirie said, her eyes equally enlarged, with a hint of terror. She, unlike me, bolted to her feet and rushed over, grabbing my hand. "But we have to get out of here..."

"Wai-"

"No time. Move! Go!" She yelled.

**GRRRRRRUUUOOOOAHHH!**

And we were off, hauling our butts through the forest and away from whatever produced that ungodly sound. Whatever it was, it sounded huge. I could hear trees crashing and birds flapping away from the wild disturbance. I stole a glance at Kirie after - conveniently - almost tripping over an uprooted vine.

She looked scared, horrified even. Had she ever fought, well, anything in this game before?! The thought soared through my brain. Then, realization struck me. It probably was an inopportune time to ask, but I did anyway.

"Kirie!"

After about the fourth call, she screamed back in aggravation. "What?!" And I winced. However, I wouldn't even get to ask, for the beast crashed right into the pile of trees behind us, sending everything around us skyward, dirt, trees and all. I felt the air around me as I my body lifted off the ground, and right out of the lengthy expanse of the plains.

I turned my head to see Kirie wailing like a crazy woman. "Kyahhh!" She squealed. I felt the odd urge to laugh at her expression, before my body felt the harsh arrival of the ground, slamming against it with a resounding:

**WHAM!**

"Oof!"

As soon as I hit dirt, I instinctively rolled back up on all fours, like a cat who'd been sprinkled with water. I darted my eyes over to Kirie to see if she was okay.

"Kirie!"

"I'm fine! I'm good!" She groaned, sitting up with a grunt and rubbing her head.

"Ow..."

I steadily stood to my feet, eyeing the ravaged forest before me. It was completely decimated. I could see the system start to repair itself, however, the destruction was astonishing. But what took my literal breath away was what had made that mess. I had to crank my head all the way back as I stared in awe at the large creature looming over us. Red eyes gleamed like only a predator's would.

And we, unfortunately, were its prey...

"What the..."

"Holy..."

Kirie had gotten to her feet as well, mouth ajar as she stood beside me. Her pupils shrank within the whites of her eyes as she eyed the ghastly creature before us. I could see her shivering through my peripheral vision, though was too engulfed in my own fear to say anything.

There, growling and snapping rabidly, stood a beast of a monster. It was covered in bristled fur, and its fangs were at least a foot long- well, at least the canines. Its claws snaked into the grass as it neared us ever slowly.

That's when I took a glimpse of its name, hovering above its head.

The Alpha.

The name brought back a flood of memories. My sister had told me about this creature. It was a field boss. One that was very tough to beat according to her. It appeared right after the initiation ceremony in the closed beta.

There was a game-wide announcement about it and nee-san said thousands of people flooded the forests of Floor 1 to find it. She said once it was defeated, the drops were really good, for the first floor at least. I mean, it was the first field boss introduced in SAO, ever. It was bound to drop some top-tier stuff.

However, she never told me how exactly they beat it, and that was one piece of information I could really use right about now. I was scared out of my mind. This was not what I signed up for! Fighting a field boss not even 4 hours after I started the game?

Some pissed off deity above must've had it out for me... I'm willing to bet it's Nemesis. You cruel mistress!

As it laid eyes on its new prey, the super-sized beast prowled around us, snapping its jaws as drool slopped from the sides of its mouth. I soon noticed something while it stalked, taking a moment to analyze it's darkened, rough fur.

There were red gashes all over his body, digital gashes. At first, I thought that was just the aesthetics of its appearance, but then I realized.

It was hurt, maybe attacked by some other group of players.

Kirie soon fumbled around and drew something from her waist. The metallic sound alerted me as I turned to see it was a dagger. That's when I pieced it all together. The poncho, the black clothing, the dagger, either she was an assassin or a thief. Though, didn't assassin's start off with curved swords?

Yeah, she was a thief.

"You save one kid... Tokage!" The blonde said, raising her guard. I'd previously opened my menu and hastily clicked on the only weapons I had, Rusty Gauntlets. Though they'd take 10 seconds to materialize.

10 seconds I didn't-

"Move!"

I felt myself being barrelled into by the teen, hitting the ground with a harsh thud as a huge claw ripped viciously at the place I was just standing. My eyes widened as I heard the sound of decreasing health, looking up to see Kirie's bar, now down to 92%.

"Kirie!" I cried out frantically, staring the huge set of claw marks against her back. She winced, yet flashed a small smile. "You okay?" She managed to ask, lifting herself off of me and turning to face the creature, brandishing her dagger.

I just stared at her, frozen in place. I couldn't speak, I couldn't move. All I could do was watch as this blonde-whom I'd just met-stood in between me and the monstrosity of a wolf before us.

"Listen to me, Tokage. I need you to run as fast as you can, okay?" She asked, eyeing the stalking creature carefully. The wolf snapped its jaws, eyeing us hungrily. I knew, the slightest chance it got, it'd pounce.

She must've known this too, for she kept waving the dagger around threateningly. It seemed to keep the wolf at bay, for now.

"No, I'm not just gonna leave you to fight that thing alone!" I yelled at her, rushing to my feet. The gauntlets had materialized, and I clenched them hard. "I can fight too! We can beat this thing. It's already been wounded!"

"No!" Kirie snapped. "I am not putting your life in danger over some stupid theory! I need you to run, now! Get out of here! I'll gather enough aggro to keep it focused on me!"

"But, Kirie!"

The blonde shot a pleading yet angered look my way. "Listen to me, Tokage!"

**GRUOOOAHHHH!**

The beast lunged, almost faster than my eyes could follow. Kirie had looked away, she'd shown a weak spot. I yelled at the top of my lungs, my right fist, sparking to life with a vivacious red light. "Kirie, behind you!"

She crossed her arms in front of her face and shut her eyes tight, screaming in frustration, yet she didn't move.

"RUN!" She roared.

Suddenly, in that split second of a moment, I could see her fear. It seemed as though everything had slowed down as if Father Time was giving us an HD, 1080p front seat look at our climatic deaths. Her arms were shaking, and tears were forming at the edge of her eyes... Part of it wasn't that she wouldn't move. She couldn't. She was frozen, just like I was before.

She was scared.

I screamed at the top of my lungs, about to ignore Kirie's orders, launch myself forward, and sink my fist right into this stupid wolf's snout, when suddenly.

"RAGGGGGHHHH!"

**Fweeeen!**

**BANG!**

**GRUOAHHH!**

An explosion of light erupted, an airborne object slamming right into the side of the wolf's nasty face. The air expanded and convulsed, erupting and knocking everyone within its vicinity away. Kirie fell back into me as we both tumbled against the grassy ground.

We rolled a few meters back, before finally coming to a stop. I was frazzled and confused. What in the world had just happened? I rubbed my eyes, suddenly feeling how weary I actually was. I blinked a few times, before noticing that Kirie was still in front of me. Her arms were spread wide and her back pressed against my knees. She covered me, protected me, even when we were blown away.

Man, she was one tough cookie.

"HEY! BUTTMUNCH!"

The voice, that tone, the familiar, dry huskiness. Raising my head from behind Kirie, I widened my eyes at the sight before me. Standing with a single, longsword, red hair tied up in a bun, and a vicious expression, my elder sister growled.

"R-REN!" I shouted, almost crying at the sight. Maybe that accursed goddess was finally giving me a break today. I salute you!

Though I soon realized how stupid I was, having garnered the attention of the Alpha once again, Almost everything on the left side of the mob's face was cleaved clean off. It snarled and snapped, it's already pretty low health dipping deeper into the yellow region.

Kirie instinctively backed up against me shielding me once again. "Stay behind me!" She said, stealing a glance at Ren, before returning her attention to the beast. However, she managed to ask:

"You know that girl?"

"OI!" Ren crouched and slipped into a pre-motion stance, narrowing her eyes which focused solely on the beast. She rested her blade against her right shoulder. "When I say run, you run! Got it?!"

The beast slowly stalked to its feet, growling lowly and flicking it's one glowing eye between Kirie and I. I instinctively backed up, tugging on Kirie's sleeve. "That girl's my sister, Kirie," I said. Before she could turn her head and look back at me in surprise, I warned her.

"Wait, stay focused! Remember what happened last time! This thing is tricky!"

Kirie grunted, yet, kept her eyes on the beast. "Why the hell didn't you tell me you had an elder sister in here with you, Tokage?!"

"I was trying to tell you, but there was the small, minute problem of us running for our lives!" I said with a frown. Kirie groaned in annoyance. Her health was pretty low as well, and she looked even more beat up than when we first met, with due reason. She had about 79% of health left.

"Come on, Kirie! We have to run this time! Not just me! Ren can handle this guy. She was in the beta, she knows how to beat it!"

"Tch!" Kirie sucked her teeth, as if she was torn between helping my sister out, or saving me. Did this woman just not give a care about her own safety?! "Kirie! Come on! This is no time to be stubborn!"

"Oh look who's talking Mr. 'We can defeat it together!'"

The wolf pounced, baring its fangs as it barrelled towards us

"MOVE IT!" Ren roared as she launched from the spot she was standing, flying towards the beast with almost blinding speed. Her body lit up in a white glow before she soared off even faster than the skill she used was taking her.

I, now pulling on Kirie's poncho, ran back. "Kirie!"

"Okay, okay!" She turned and took my hand in hers, darting off in the opposite direction whilst looking back. I did the same, watching as the beast bounded after us hungrily. I was scared, but, at the same time, I wasn't.

Why would I be? Ren was here.

WHAM!

My sister slammed her body diagonally into the beast, having reached it in time. Her following skill finally sprung into action. The blue glowing sword seemed to gut and entrap the beast as it ripped around its body before Ren finished with a harsh downward slash, that sent the Alpha crashing to the ground.

"RAAGH!"

BOOM!

Dust went airborne instantly, the skill detonating the earth itself,

Kirie had gone wide-eyed at the display of skill. I only grinned. I knew how strong my sis was, especially in this game. She was a pro and definitely knew how to hold her own.

Ren messily rolled out of the fray, red bun and all. She sprung to her feet and quickly followed us. "Move! Move! Move!" She screamed at us.

That's when we refocused and revved our afterburners.

In no time at all, Ren had caught up to us, sprinting down the prairie and back onto the path towards. "Come on! If we make it a bit farther, we'll be out of its aggro range, no matter how vicious a monster is, it always has a range of attack!"

"Right, damn it!" Kirie managed to say. I could tell the girl must've been beyond tired. But she kept pushing. "To-... Tokage, stay in front okay?!"

I gulped while running. Her voice exuded weariness. "R-Right!" I stuttered. Though, my mind floated back to the Alpha, wondering what exactly had happened to it. I turned, only to find that it was actually battling someone else.

A black-haired player, with a one-handed longsword. The boy stood in between us and the beast, fending it off with almost expert skill. As it clawed for him, he'd parry expertly before dishing out a strong counter in return. Falling into a roll, the boy hopped back up and caught my stare. He bared his teeth and readied a sword skill.

"KEEP RUNNING! I GOT THIS!" He yelled, before flashing right back into the heat of battle once again.

That's when it hit me... The marks all over the Alpha's body, how low it's health was when it attacked us. Those weren't just aesthetics. He was the one. But to bring the Alpha's health down so much all on his own...

I eyed the black-haired player hard. 'Beta testers.' I thought, turning to stare at my sister. I swallowed my admiration. These people were no joke...

Soon Ren snapped her hand out and grabbed mine. "Less gawking more running you two!"

Both Kirie and I flopped with our words as we stumbled to keep up.

"R-Right!"

"Got it!"

It'd take only a few more minutes before we'd arrive at the entrance of the Starting City, panting and heaving for breath. At least Kirie and I were. Ren looked fairly unaffected by the almost mile long run back.

She crouched down, yanking and tapping me as she checked me over. "No bruises, do you hurt anywhere? Feel woozy?" She asked, shooting a glare at my health bar, as if tempting fate to try it's luck.

Fortunately, it didn't. "No, no, I'm fine. I am, really. Kirie are you-"

"Yup," Kirie said through a series of wheezes. "Peachy..."

Ren gave her a quick once over, her eyes shooting from her clothing to weaponry, then back to her face in mere seconds. "So you're a thief?" She asked, rising up again and walking over to her.

Kirie plopped down on her butt with a sigh and nod. "Yup. Don't worry, I won't steal your valuables."

Ren snorted. "Like you could."

Kirie groaned and fell back against the floor. "Right?"

That surprised my sister, eyebrows raised and everything, and I knew why. Usually, when she said something along those lines, people retaliated or got angry. Kirie just let the comment breeze by like a passing thought.

I laughed. Maybe it was the weariness or just her reaction. But the whole situation was just hilarious to me. Kirie seemed to think so too, joining in as well.

"Ohh my god we almost died!" She cried through fits of laughter, as if just noticing. Ren couldn't help but giggle and rest back against the wall west to the entrance. We weren't actually situated right outside it. We'd decided to move a good bit over, in case any overzealous players decided to pick on us.

"Geez, you both are idiots you know... I was worried sick about you, you idiot!" She groaned, sliding down the wall as if letting all the stress evaporate out of her. She brought her knees to her chest and rested her head against them. "I even left-"

She stopped, as if just realizing what she'd done. I knew exactly who she was about to say next. I did a head check. "Where's Saito?" I asked, eyeing my sister again. She didn't respond. Kirie sat up and looked at Ren, before eyeing me.

"Who?"

"Saito, he's a friend of ours," I replied before turning to Ren. "You left him? W-why?!" I stammered, throwing my hands in the air.

"Because he wanted to play hero, Tohru!" She raised her head and frowned. "And I needed to find you. I wasn't going to wait around as he helped every single person in the city."

"Okay but still, you can't just leave him in a city this wild, Ren! He could be robbed or beaten up!"

"I'm sure he's fine."

"Ren, he doesn't know anything about this game!" I growled in exasperation. "I mean-"

"You were in danger, Tohru!"

"I had it under control!"

"Oh did you now?! Because the two-ton pound demon puppy would like a second opinion!"

"Gah! Ren!"

"GUYS!"

Kirie's voice cut through our argument like a knife. We both fell silent. She huffed. "Jesus, do you two go at it like this every day?! Calm down! What happened, happened! It's done with, spilled milk. You're both right."

She turned to Ren. "He's your brother, you weren't going to wait around for someone you barely even knew while he was in danger."

She then looked my way. "He's your friend. Maybe your sister was a bit impulsive in just leaving him like that. But considering what just happened, I'm sure that was the sisterly thing to do, don't you?"

I stared at her weirdly, feeling like I'd just gotten a life lesson from a parent. I opened my mouth, but no words came out, instead, I nodded.

Ren brought her head back and chuckled dryly. "Oh god, you sound like mom..." She said. I watched as she looked up at the sky, pupils shaking with underlying worry.

"You're right." She muttered, moving to stand to her feet. "...we need to find him."

I let out a with relief, running a hand through my hair.

"Yeah."

Kirie smirked, seeing us die down and resolve our issues. "Well come on then." She said, nodding to the both of us as she slipped her dagger back into its sheath.

"We have a player to find."

Ren nodded and stepped up to take lead. "I know where I last saw him, come on, and stay close. These streets are dangerous."

The two of us agreed and followed after. I ventured further up and nudged my sister lightly. She looked over and I hugged her tight.

"Thanks," I said. "For being there."

She was quiet for a beat, before pushing me off. "Alright, alright, lemme go." She said though the red tinge of her cheeks and averting of her gaze was enough to make my heart warm.

I duly nodded with a grin as Kirie stepped up beside us. With our goal in mind, the three of us entered back into the city, focused on finding our lost friend.

Hopefully, he'd fared better than us...  
  


**Satoru (Saito) Narita**

* * *

 

Things were coming to a close here. Royce was wrapping up, managing to add two new additions to his suicide squad (pun most definitely intended). I could tell he really believed in what he said. A part of me felt sorry for him. He was a victim just like every other player, trapped within a game of death, with an impossible goal ahead.

Compared to fighting through 100 whole floors of deadly monsters with his life on the line, simply falling off the edge of the world with fingers crossed didn't seem like such a bad idea.

My mind floated over to Tohru. I hoped he was safe, that Ren had found him... In hindsight, I looked very insensitive dropping finding her brother to help with this "lost cause". I literally kicked him to the curve, and the thought itself made my stomach turn.

I'd probably never see the two of them again. Knowing Ren, she most likely found him by now, and the two were on their way to Horunka, if they weren't there already. I sighed. Maybe this was a lost cause. I barely knew anything about this game, and the odds were stacked so high against me. Who knew if my crazy plan would even work? I should've just went with Ren, found Tohru, and kept it moving.

I shouldn't have played hero... right?

A simple glance at the child to his right would set me straight. The little girl whimpered as she hugged her mother like a vice. The lady kept protective arms around her daughter, though looked as if she was in a daze. I could tell some part of her knew this was completely crazy. But just looking at her, I knew she was battling with her desperation. She needed help. She wanted her and her daughter to live, and she'd do anything to make sure they did, no matter how wayward...

"ANYONE ELSE?!" Royce boomed. I eyed him carefully. His speech had gone on for a good 15 more minutes. He didn't seem to be getting any more volunteers. The crowd was beginning to size him up, wondering if he was all talk or action.

The scary thing was, I really didn't know. But I wasn't planning on finding out. Checking the stability of the boxes, I nodded at the creaks and groans.

'Good, good.' I thought, looking at the back of Royce's head. 'Just have to wait for an opening.'

"I will show you all," Royce said with a confident - yet slightly mad - smile. "I will show each and every one of you the trickery of Argus. And we will see our families and friends again! I will lead you back to the world of the living!"

The crowd was swirled into an uproar. This was it. With a hard step of my left, I brought myself forward.

"WOAH! WOAH!" I roared as loud as I could, waving my hands wildly around in front of me.

The swarm of players managed to hush themselves at the new arrival. Their eyes fixated themselves on me. Some faces were confused, others were shocked at the outburst. Only Royce's expression was different. It held a degree of agitation. As if to ask "What the hell are you doing?!"

I forced myself to keep in character, placing a hand delicately across my chest. I reared back dramatically, and spoke loud and clear. "R-Royce, what'd you just say?"

The slinky man frowned. "Excuse me?" He asked, wrinkling his brow. "What do you-"

"About bringing us to the world of the living, Royce." I said, eyeing him with caution. "Are you saying we're dead already? Are saying that we're that weak? That as soon as someone challenges us that we should simply kick the bucket?"

My words were clear and concise and the questions hung in the air as Royce searched for an answer. I wouldn't give him a chance.

"Royce, we're Japanese."

The statement was simple, yet I could feel the weird curiosity the saying would bring. The crowd was quiet, wondering as to where I was going with this.

"We don't buckle under pressure. We don't falter at a challenge. Royce, we've made technological advances that have had the world drooling at our feet. We've changed the world as we know it many times over. We are one of the strongest nations in the world!" I spread my arms, gesturing to everyone in the crowd.

Royce quickly rebutted. "What does that have to do with us being trapped in a virtual death game, boy?" What do we being a strong people contribute to the fact that we do not know HOW TO GET OUT OF HERE?!"

I internally smiled.

_'Oh Royce my man...'_ I thought, taking another step forward.

"I thought you swore that your words were true?" I asked, staring at him blankly. I tilted my head.

"I thought you promised this crowd of believers that this plan of yours would work without a hitch? That they'd be brought back to the world of the living. Because-" I threw my hands around

"We're obviously dead, are we not?!" I crowed, emotion spurring back into my expression.

I took a beat to glance at Holi. Her mouth was slightly ajar. She stroked her chin, eyebrows furrowed. She was still wondering where I was going with this, her indigo eyes switching between Royce and I.

Royce growled, muttering under his breath. I brought my hand to my ear.

"What was that?!" I yelled. "I can't hear you, Royce!"

"I SAID WE MIGHT AS WELL BE!"

The crowd - which had grown noticeably larger in the past few minutes - gasped. I did the same, stumbling back, making sure to take exceptionally hard steps.

The players behind me rocked with the unstable boxes, looking between each other warily. They started to take notice of how dangerous this makeshift podium really was.

"NO!" I yelled, staring at Royce incredulously. "Are you CRAZY?! WE ARE NOT DEAD!"

Holi shot her fist into the sky.

"Yeah!" She screamed in agreement. Others stared at her briefly, before beginning to look at each other. I could almost see their trust in Royce slip away. I took another step forward.

"Royce, we will not succumb to Kayaba's petty game of life. We can survive!" I said, taking yet another step. "But I will not let you, or anyone else throw their lives away on some stupid hunch that might just get a mother and her  _young child_  killed!" I turned, gesturing back at the woman and her daughter.

The mother had tears streaming down her cheeks, crouching down and hugging her daughter close. I could tell now. Royce's brainwash was broken. She finally let reasoning sink in. She wasn't going to jump. The child had her arms around her mother, crying in relief, or weariness. I couldn't tell.

But I smiled.

I returned to Royce, the whole crowd breaking into mutters and whispers. He scowled at me, fists balled so tight, his knuckles had turned white. He growled almost wildly and I gave him a sorrowful look.

"Royce, we can't drive these people to do this. You know that." I said, this time speaking personally towards him. "You have to help me. This crowd needs some real hope. Something solid and rational, something that can guarantee their survival. Not throwing themselves over a railing and hoping for the best."

Though I spoke with conviction, Royce wasn't having any of it. His face was beet red as he took an exceptionally hard step towards me.

"You...!"

"Royce-"

"YOU!" He screamed.

I watched as he lunged, the large crowd gasping behind him. I narrowed my eyes, slipping back and solidifying my footing. I knew one way or another, he wasn't going to take this sitting down. But hey, no harm in trying.

If he'd thrown a normal punch, he would've still held a shred of dignity. But drawing his weapon - a one-handed dagger, that was where I knew the crowd had lost all faith in him. Ren's words sparked into memory.

Put that sword away! We're still civil here!

He swung with ferocity for someone of his size, though in a wide and predictable arc. In comparison to Ren's sword swings, it wasn't anything special. I took a step forward, remembering an old self-defense lesson my mother once taught me.

_"Remember Satoru." She said, taking a step forward as she mimicked swinging a knife, aimed at my face. The swing was wildy and careless. "Force yourself into their line of attack."_

Shove.

_"The initial movement will confuse them. Why the hell are ya running towards the attack? That's when you snap your hands out!"_

Lock.

_"And with all your strength, pull on their attacking arm-"_

_"Slide yourself back!" I said, doing exactly that._

**_"And!"_ **

Flip.

"Aghh!"

Royce when airborne. My hands were locked against his sword arm and my body was directly under him. With a hard crash, I flung him into the boxes below, the force of impact sending him right through the unstable flooring.

No one spoke. No one breathed. Everyone simply watched as I raised my body, let out a defiant breath, and blew my hair out of my face.

I turned and glared at the crowd, anger spiking within me. However, I channeled it properly, roaring at the top of my lungs.

"WE WILL SURVIVE! WE WILL BEAT KAYABA, AND WE WILL LIVE TO SEE ANOTHER DAY!"

Holi stared at me in complete awe, before her mouth split into a bright grin. She raised both fists this time and yelled at the top of her lungs.

"THAT'S RIGHT!"

The crowd, considering and weighing what'd just happened, began to scream and yell in agreement. I watched silently as within minutes the crowd was whipped up into a frenzy of cheering and acclaim.

My heart soared. I looked back at the players behind me, specifically the mother and her child. The woman gave me a bright, tear-filled smile.

"Thank you." She mouthed quietly.

I couldn't help but smile back, giving her a silent nod in reply.

_'Your welcome.'_

I motioned with my head for them and the rest of players to get off the platform. It was unsafe, as they'd just seen, and I didn't want them getting hurt. Soon enough, when everyone was off, I hopped down as well, and the crowd surrounded me. Geez, there must've been at least 100 of 'em crammed up in this little street.

I was swiftly greeted by a hug from my blue-haired cheerleader, laughing happily.

"Oh my god you were awesome, Saito!" Holi cried.

I chuckled, returning the hug. As we let go she sighed.

"Man, first Raiden, now you..."

I tilted my head to the right with a confused frown. "Who's that?"

She shook her head and laughed. "Nevermind. What're you gonna do with this crowd you've pulled together?" She asked, looking around.

I did as well, seeing everyone cheering and applauding. "Well, not just me..." I said, turning to the collapsed boxes. Royce was gone, probably slinked off somewhere after my little spiel.

I sighed.

"I have a plan, would've liked his help though." I said.

Holi poked my cheek and I turned to see her cheerful smile. "Isn't that why you have all of us?" She asked.

I eyed her with surprise. "You're gonna help out?"

"Yup," She said, patting the fanny pack attached to the small of her back. "Plus, you might need a medic close by in case things get crazy."

I couldn't help but grin, nodding. "Alright then! Nice to meet ya, partner." I said, offering my hand. She laughed and took it in hers with a shake.

"Same, come on," Holi said, using our linked hands to guide me. "I have some friends I want you to meet. They've already started to help out within the city, bringing a hundred plus supporters would be a godsend."

I nodded understandingly, turning to the crowd as I motioned them with a welcoming hand.

"Come on everyone!" I said, watching as the filled street of players, players of all different sizes and ages, genders, and even nationalities - not just Japanese began to follow the two of us.

Holi and I made our way towards the center of town, where we'd meet allies that would help us bring order to the city once more.

My mind floated back to Ren and Tohru, wondering just what exactly they were doing. Hopefully, Tohru was safe. Hopefully, they'd made it to Horunka safely. That's all I could do really.

Hope for the best.

That's all any of us could do. Hope and pray. This game would be crazy. People would get hurt. Others might even die. But if I continued to hold onto that hope, onto that faith that had been spurred into our very hearts...

Then I had no doubt in my mind that together, we'd be able to see the sun of the real world once more...

And, like Royce had said, we would see our friends and family again.

No doubt.

* * *

 

Letting the group of many leave, two players stayed behind. They watched the brown-haired player march along with his new group of allies. One of the duo, a male, smiled noticeably looking on as the crowd moved along down the street.

His black hair billowed lightly with the slightest gust, equally black eyes glistening with intrigue. "Interesting."

His mouth curved upwards into a smooth smile as he waited until the mob was completely gone, before turning and placing a hand on his partner's head. The girl watched on in silence, giving the whole situation a stoic expression.

"Come, Hyper-chan," The male turned, the movement graceful and smooth in its execution. "We have much work to do."

The girl nodded and accompanied her taller partner.

"Yeah."

Womph!

"Ack!" The man keeled to the side, clutching his ribs.

The girl retracted her elbow with a sigh.

"And don't call me that."


End file.
